courtesy of DL Media
This past September Mack Avenue Records released the latest album of performances by the Christian McBride Big Band. This large ensemble was founded in 2011 by bassist McBride for the release of the Mack Avenue album The Good Feeling, which was followed in 2017 by Bringin’ It. The new album is a tribute release, as may be inferred from its title: For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver.
The title refers to three days of recording sessions at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio arranged by organist Jimmy Smith and guitarist Wes Montgomery. This led to the release of the now-classic album Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo in 1966. This was followed in 1968 by Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes. On both of these albums, produced by Creed Taylor for Verve Records, Smith and Montgomery performed with big band arrangements provided by Oliver Nelson. McBride’s tribute album thus covers all the creative bases, so to speak.
On this new album the band resources consist of four trumpets, four trombones (one of which is bass), and five saxophones: two alto, two tenor, one baritone. They provide “background” for a “foreground quartet,” consisting of McBride joined by Joey DeFrancesco on organ, Mark Whitfield on guitar, and Quincy Phillips on drums. Given the inspiration behind the album, it is no surprise that most of the solo work is carried by DeFrancesco and Whitfield. Furthermore, four of the tracks are performed only by this quartet; and it is in that setting that the attentive listener can appreciate McBride’s inventiveness as a soloist. DeFrancesco also adds a bit of wit in composing one of the quartet selections: “Don Is” is an homage to Blue Note producer Don Was, who was also a bassist that co-founded the funk-rock band Was (Not Was) when he was not producing Blue Note releases.
From a strictly personal point of view, I prefer combos to big bands. So I tended to be most focused on the four quartet tracks. On the other hand, I have long appreciated the innovative qualities of Nelson’s arrangements. The Blues and the Abstract Truth and More Blues and the Abstract Truth remain favorites in my CD collection, and his death by heart attack at the age of 43 was one of the great tragedies of imaginative modernism in the jazz genre. Three of the big band tracks are reconstructions of Nelson arrangements, and McBride definitely deserves credit for reviving those arrangements with a new ensemble. In my case the deepest impressions were made on the “Down by the Riverside” track, which is particularly memorable for including Whitfield’s reflections on Montgomery’s inventiveness.
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