When great musicians push themselves to do something different, it can be an exciting prospect. Christian McBride's New Jawn quartet is a great example of that. And when those musicians really enjoy that challenge, that's when the magic of jazz happens.
After a pair of successful trio albums and a Grammy-winning big band release a year ago, McBride's latest outfit is pianoless. In the tradition of similar bands, such as Ornette Coleman's two-horns-bass-and-drums quartet, the lack of chordal instruments seems to free up each player and challenge them at the same time.
The heart of the New Jawn ("jawn" is to Philadelphia what "joint" is to director Spike Lee, it's a "person, place or thing”) is the combination of McBride's solid bass work and the rapid-fire drumming of Nasheet Waits. Though they've known each other for years, this band marks their first opportunity to play together.
Musicians:
Christian McBride - bass
Nasheet Waits - drums
Marcus Strickland - tenor sax
Joshua Evans - trumpet
Audio:
John Kessler
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