This post was created a few years back, but never saw the light of day.
Enjoy!
What is your scenario? Have you been looking for a CD that proves to your friends that you not only have the biggest house, fastest car, and hottest wife, but also the best speakers in the world? Or perhaps you’ve been trying to figure out a way to convince your partner that it’s time to replace your anemic speakers with a pair that can truly convey the dynamics of someone plucking the strings of a stand-up bass? Or maybe you’re a jazz aficionado that loves the sound of some great musicians getting together creating magic? No matter what your story is, I have found the CD for you. You owe it to yourself to buy a copy from your closest CD/record store, or your favorite on-line CD retailer. So who is responsible for producing this great Jazz CD? Christian McBride, http://www.myspace.com/christianmcbrideband/comment, that’s who.
The album has many outstanding songs including the first track “Afirika” featuring Angelique Kidjo, http://angelique.kidjo.com/, on vocals. The song begins with Christian McBride laying down a great bass line, and Angelique taking it from there. Listen to her breathing the song at about 3 minutes and 15 seconds in. The flavor of the song reminds me of something Harry Belafonte, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Belafonte, would have recorded during the height of Calypso’s popularity in the 50s, or something Miriam Makeba, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba, would have performed back in the 60s.
Track two “Fat Bach and Greens” is a traditional song arranged by Regina Carter, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Carter, who guest stars on the violin. Her playing is in a word, beautiful.
Track three, “Consider Me Gone”, has Sting, http://www.sting.com/, adding his distinctive voice to a remake of his song that originally appeared on his first post “Police” solo album, “The Dream of the Blue Turtles”.
My favorite song on the album is a remake of the Isley Brothers’ 1969 hit “It’s Your Thing”. Christian’s playing is exemplary while Dee Dee Bridgewater’s, http://www.deedeebridgewater.com/, vocals are just plain joyful. You can tell that they had a blast recording this together. She actually starts laughing midway through the song.
So what are you waiting for? Stop listening to me, and just listen to Christian and his friends do their thing.
Performance 4.7 out of 5 Sound 4.8 out of 5 Ranking #1 so far on my list of favorite jazz albums.