Yesterday, bassist, composer, and bandleader Christian McBride won a GRAMMY® Award for his Big Band album Without Further Ado, Vol 1 in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. Released last year via Mack Avenue Records, Without Further Ado, Vol 1 features McBride’s esteemed Big Band with a star studded list of guests like Sting & Andy Summers, Samara Joy, Jeffery Osborne, Dianne Reeves, José James, Cécile McLorlin Salvant, and Antoinette Henry. DownBeat praised the album as “a rewarding survey of the bassist’s love for jazz, R&B and pop,” and McBride performed the album’s track “Back In Love Again” with Jeffrey Osborne on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “Windows,” McBride’s collaboration with Chick Corea and Brian Blade from Corea’s posthumous album Trilogy 3also won a GRAMMY for Best Jazz Performance – Trilogy 3 is out now via Candid Records. The awards mark McBride’s 10th and 11th GRAMMY® wins. 

“Since the release of The Good Feeling in 2011, the Christian McBride Big Band recordings have grown into everything we hoped they would be,” says Mack Avenue President Denny Stilwell. “These are special records, and the guest vocalists featured on Without Further Ado, Vol 1 bring an exciting dimension to the project. This is the first volume of Without Further Ado, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience Vol 2!”

Having played with artists ranging from Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis to Billie Eilish and Céline Dion, several of McBride’s artistic paths converge on Without Further Ado, Vol 1 creating an electrifying collection of reimagined classics and surprises. The inspiration and many of the arrangements for the album grew out of the annual NJPAC Gala, for which the Big Band served as house band and McBride as musical director since 2012. “We’ve always invited a bunch of great singers to come and perform at the Gala,” McBride says, “and as musical director, I’m responsible for arranging all of the music. After so many years of writing big band charts for these incredible singers, I realized that I had stacks of music that had only been played once. This has been a fantastic opportunity to finally record some of these arrangements and to play them with some of my favorite singers.”

If there is any doubt that we are living through a vocal jazz renaissance, the multi-generational line-up of singers McBride has assembled for Without Further Ado, Vol 1 definitively settles that debate. From five-time GRAMMY® winner Samara Joy’s breathtaking version of the jazz standard “Old Folks,” to three-time GRAMMY® winner Cécile Mclorin Salvant’s burning, uptempo reinterpretation of Cole Porter’s dreamy ballad “All Through The Night”, Without Further Ado, Vol 1 is a vocal all-star game of new talent that’s heightened by the elegance and fire of the Christian McBride Big Band. 

About Christian McBride:
Christian McBride is an 11-time GRAMMY®-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader. He is the Artistic Director of the New Jersey Performing Art Center’s TD James Moody Festival and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. McBride is also a respected educator and advocate for youth, serving as Artistic Director of JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions. In addition to artistic directing and consistent touring with his ensembles, he hosts NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” and “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM. Whether behind the bass or away from it, Christian McBride is always part of the music. From jazz to R&B, and pop/rock and hip-hop/neo-soul to classical, he is a luminary with one hand ever reaching for new heights, and the other extended in fellowship—and perhaps the hint of a challenge—inviting us to join him. 

Follow Christian McBride:
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