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Christian McBride - Live at Tonic


Aggie87

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Coming up in May (16th, according to alankin's site), the new Christian McBride album. This is a 3 disc set that was recorded live over two nights at tonic in January 05. According to his website - each night featured an opening set by the CMB (Christian McBride, Ron Blake, Geoff Keezer, and Terreon Gully), and a second set that featured the band with special guests including: Charlie Hunter, DJ Logic, Eric Krazno (Soulive), Scratch (The Roots), Jason Moran, Jenny Scheinmann, and Rashawn Ross. This sounds like it could be alot of fun - I like his last cd, "Vertical Vision" quite a bit.

02_christianartbig.jpg

Edited by Aggie87
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  • 1 month later...

up for air, this is going to be a triple album! price of one disc. Definitely gonna pick it up. Heres the tracklist:

1 Technicolor Nightmare 12:48

2 Say Something 6:04

3 Clerow's Flipped 6:05

4 Lejos de Usted 7:01

5 Sonic Tonic 11:44

6 Hibiscus 6:02

7 Sitting on a Cloud 6:52

8 Boogie Woogie Waltz 14:54

9 See Jam, Hear Jam, Feel Jam 29:23

10 Out Jam/Give It Up or Turnit Loose 9:35

11 Lower East Side/Rock Jam 6:26

12 Hemisphere Jam 3:36

13 Bitches Brew 4:51

14 Out Jam/Via Mwandishi 7:57

15 Mwandishi Outcome Jam 7:10

16 The Comedown (LSD Jam) 3:58

17 E Jam 33:03

18 AB Minor Jam 12:59

19 D Shuffle Jam 9:00

20 D Shuffle Jam, Pt. 2 11:32

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  • 3 weeks later...

anybody get this yet? waiting for my local Coconuts to get the copy I ordered in, probably tommorrow it'll come. I heard "Technicolor Nightmare" on the Ropeadope site, and "Sitting on a Cloud" on npr.org, both sounded excellent. 3 discs of some very interesting music looks like.

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Listened to the entire set last night. I think it's a very good album. The disc featuring the CMB, those songs have definitely, without a doubt evolved from the studio versions, the jam discs are very good too. I think disc 2 is my favorite of the lengthy jams, but disc 3 has grooves that won't quit! Scratch's addition was very cool, and while I am not a huge fan of hip hop, all the well known samples he was doing with his voice were pretty cool. Anybody else listen yet?

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Listened to the entire set last night. I think it's a very good album. The disc featuring the CMB, those songs have definitely, without a doubt evolved from the studio versions, the jam discs are very good too. I think disc 2 is my favorite of the lengthy jams, but disc 3 has grooves that won't quit! Scratch's addition was very cool, and while I am not a huge fan of hip hop, all the well known samples he was doing with his voice were pretty cool. Anybody else listen yet?

Yes! Very, very cool!

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what's weird is there are no song credits on the album at all, not on the back covers or inside sleeve artwork. hope Joe Zawinul isn't pissed that "Boogie Woogie Waltz" is on there, without his name credited. There are also a few spelling errors too, nothing on the level of Booby, or the very fine, but underrecorded Herbie Handcock tho :P The synth bass and hornlines are killing me on "Ab Jam" though, I love how it goes into a quasi dub thing, then a drum n bass groove. Listening to the jam discs a few times, they are very well structured, the solos don't stay too long, or grooves that get boring fast a la Soulive. I really am impressed bigtime with Jenny Scheinman and Terreon Gully on this disc. Terreon does this thing, I've heard Chris Dave do it also with Kenny Garrett, but Gully will like take an eighth note groove and cut it in half so its like quarter notes on the closed hi hat, and the rimshot or snare on 2 and 4, but when he does that, it sounds like theres delay on the hihat,snare or rim, I don't think he has an effects on his drums, is he using 2 sticks at once to do this "delay" effect? I love it. Just found Scott Yanow's review on AMG. He disagrees about the jams, I hear whats hes saying, but they capture my interest, if it was any jam band I'd probably get bored, but McBride, Keezer, Blake, Scheinman, JaMo and Hunter are such high level improvisors on this date I enjoy it. I thought Scott would disagree with the jam length, and I don't know if hes all that into beatboxing and turntables integrated into a jazz format, but its a more honest 3 star review than anything Thom Jurek writes.

Review by Scott Yanow

When bassist Christian McBride first emerged on the jazz scene, he was a youthful phenomenon who seemed to be set to follow in the footsteps of his early inspiration Ray Brown. However McBride has too much talent to merely want to be a copy of the past and, although he can swing as hard as any bebop bassist, his interests go beyond straightahead jazz into funk, fusion and more adventurous improvising. Live At Tonic is a three-CD set that has the highlights from his opening sets during two nights at Tonic on the first disc and his complete second sets on discs two and three. It is clear, after hearing the first couple of numbers, that McBride loves funk and stretching out. The first disc has his regular quartet with tenor-saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Terreon Gully digging into eight numbers including Weather Report's "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and some straightahead jamming. The second disc has the group augmented by guest pianist Jason Moran, violinist Jenny Schienman and guitarist Charlie Hunter while the third has guests on trumpet, guitar, boom box and turntables. Unfortunately the songs (particularly on the second and third CDs) are not of very high quality and the funk seems to go on forever, particularly on the 29-minute "See Jam, Hear Jam, Feel Jam." Each set has lengthy (and I do mean lengthy) introductions of the musicians over endless vamps that would be extremely difficult to sit through twice. More is definitely less on this three-CD set, which would have benefited greatly from being two or even one CD, cutting out the excess of fat and the long "vamp till ready" sections. There are some good moments along the way and the musicians are great, but some editing and common sense should have gone into this production.

Edited by CJ Shearn
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I really am impressed bigtime with Jenny Scheinman and Terreon Gully on this disc. Terreon does this thing, I've heard Chris Dave do it also with Kenny Garrett, but Gully will like take an eighth note groove and cut it in half so its like quarter notes on the closed hi hat, and the rimshot or snare on 2 and 4, but when he does that, it sounds like theres delay on the hihat,snare or rim, I don't think he has an effects on his drums, is he using 2 sticks at once to do this "delay" effect? I love it.

I think Terreon Gully is one of the new "sound innovators" on the trap set.

He dosn't use a sound delay to get that effect, I'm not sure about the two sticks technique, but it's all done with his hands. You can hear it on Keezer's Wildcrafted cd, and you can see it for your self in NYC when he plays with the Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer Group at Dizzy's June 6-11.

IMG_2836.jpg

Terreon Gully

Edited by marcello
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I will have to check out that Keezer album...... unfortunately Marcello, I can't make it to NY for that gig, but Gully's playing is really, really impressive on "Live At Tonic". I'm still not sure about Yanow's appraisal, I just finished disc 2 again, and the whole thing to my ear flows very cohesively, its clear (at least, to me) that everyone is listening to each other and motifs naturally evolve and change over time. And its very obvious that with Bitches Brew and Via Mwandishi, those are actual tunes, I mean, BB gets set up perfectly when Christian does the call and response thing with Terreon Gully, that intro is unmistakable. Also, since Scott does not mention DJ Logic, Scratch, or Rashawn Ross by name, perhaps their contributions were unimportant to him, but like I said his review is honest.

Also, this music was geared for a different audience, its loose and funky, but there is some meat underneath, otherwise on that second set on the first night, they wouldn't have gone into some free improv areas, maybe they made some new jazz fans out of the jamband and hip hop contingent, can't argue with that :) I just wonder where the CMB will go next. I gotta backtrack a bit and pick up "Sci Fi". I love that interpretation of "Walking on the Moon", which I also heard on npr.org prior to Tonic's release.

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ropeadope comes through this week with the double , the Giro and the Tour ...

cmblat+bptcotw ... just add epo and recombinate as suits your mood

http://store.ropeadope.com/dframesetmainpr...=17&product=324

http://store.ropeadope.com/dframesetmainpr...=17&product=325

those who dug McBride disc 2 and wonder if Yanow has far too many reviews to write to find time to listen to extended jams (?) , and who'd like to order up some Scheinman and a 612 slide of Hunter :

Bobby and Charlie , building on their deep-space duos (and the pioneering work of vintage 68 ManU - long live Georgie) have carved out a new direction in music with The Coalition Of The Willing.

ropeadope's calling it an "instrumental rock masterpiece" ... which tells me nothing.

my ears tell me Hunter isn't playing much jazz or any B3 synth (Saft the man). on many numbers Hunter tunes like many a classic blues session but with pure straight eights ... Dick Dale on x? others its acidslide Hawaii !?! on one it's freakin' Hendrixative tripped-out Mileselectric -- smoothly interruptive metal licks no extra charge. (i wonder if Page, Slash , Iommi , Eddie are listening ... naaah)

Previte the catalyzing groovemaster on drums and percussion.

throw in harmonica, slide trumpet, tenor sax, trombone , primarily in supporting roles but Bernstein and especially Skerik slip in with some quality improv time.

surf meets reggae meets Hendrix meets classic blues meets Brownian funkmotion meets Southern slide-harmonica something (!) meets ambient/trance (in no particular order I can figure) ... all cooked-up with the latest in electronica and some of the best in acoustic sounds.

nearly indescribable, try as I might ... and it might be even more undefinable live (anyone caught a show yet ?)

and Scheinman , she well works her magic on Amendola's "Believe" , navigating another New World in music :

http://www.scottamendola.com/discog_scottb...ieve_frame.html

yeah Christian ! audience noise is good ! pump it up bro !

time for a Tonic West ... if necessary don your spacesuits to visit the alternate sushinotiverse.

how bout "Noshis" ? just say noshis.

Edited by baltostar
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