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like a bebop guy.”Over the past decade, McBride’s penchantfor adapting his “own thing” to any musical situation,however tightly formatted or open-ended,has brought him copious sideman work with acrew of auditorium-fillers, among them Sting,Bruce Hornsby, David Sanborn, HerbieHancock and Metheny. Last year he concludedhis four-year run as creative chair for Jazz at theLos Angeles Philharmonic, for which he hadbooked 12 concerts a year since 2005. Amongthe highlights were projects with Queen Latifahand James Brown (his idol), a 90th birthday celebrationfor Hank Jones and also such high-conceptjazz fare as Charles Mingus’ Epitaph.McBride hasn’t neglected his jazz educationcommitments—per his annual custom since2000, he spent a fortnight as artistic director atJazz Aspen Snowmass, and he maintained hisco-director post at the National Jazz Museum inHarlem, an employer since 2005. If this weren’tenough, McBride also assumed artistic directorresponsibilities at the Monterey and Detroit JazzFestivals last year, producing new music for thevarious special projects and groups representedtherein.The impact of all this activity onMcBride’s Q-rating was apparent whenthe three Metheny devotees sharing mytable at the Blue Note said that his name, and notCarter’s, was their prime incentive for shellingout the $35 cover. McBride did not disappoint.Playing primarily acoustic bass, he constructedpungent lines that established both harmonicsignposts and a heartbeat-steady pulse aroundwhich the band could form consensus. He alsobrought down the house with a pair of astonishingsolos. On the set-opener, “Mad Lad,” astomping rhythm variant by Leo Parker,McBride bowed a fleet-as-a-fiddle, thematicallyunified stomp, executing horn-like lines withimpeccable articulation, intonation and time feel.To open the set-concluding “Lullaby For RealDeal,” by Sun Ra, he declaimed a wildMingusian holler, then counterstated Carter’sbaritone sax solo, chock-a-block with extendedtechniques, with a theme-and-variation statementthat ascended to the mountaintop, danceddown again and concluded with an emphaticflavoosh! on the E string.At the Rose Theater two weeks earlier,McBride performed equivalent feats of derringdowith the Five Peace Band—Chick Corea andJohn McLaughlin’s homage to the 40th anniversaryof their participation on Miles Davis’Bitches Brew. Halfway through the final leg of aseven-month world tour, the band addressed therepertoire in an open, collective manner, andMcBride switched off between acoustic andelectric feels with equal authority. On oneMcLaughlin-penned piece, he laid down crunchingfunk grooves on the porkchop, at one pointmirroring a staggeringly fast declamation by theleader so precisely as to give the illusion that thetones were merged into one hybrid voice.“Technically, I could have done that 10 yearsago, but I don’t think my confidence would havebeen there to try it,” McBride remarked. “Fromplaying electric so much more on sessions andgigs, now I have that confidence on both.”He elaborated on the sonic personality thateach instrument embodies.“The acoustic bass is the mother, and theelectric bass will always be the restless child,”he said. “Sometimes the energy of a restlesschild is cool to have around. It gets everybodyup, and it keeps you on your toes. But themother is always there, watching over everything—awholesome feeling. The acoustic bassisn’t as loud, but it’s so big—it grabs all themusic with a big, long arm. It encircles it. Theelectric bass is clearer, more in your face, but itdoesn’t have that wisdom.”From the jump, McBride conceptualized theacoustic as an oversized electric bass. “Claritywas always the center of my concept,” he said.“The instrument’s range and frequency meansyou can feel the pulse that makes you move,but it’s hard to hear the notes. Much as I hate toadmit it, I mostly hated bass solos, because Icould never understand what they were playing.Notes ran into each other, and some catswould be out of tune—outside of first or secondposition, it gets dicey. I found that catswho play very clear and have good melodicideas tended to be from the low-action, highamplifiedschool. When they’d start walking,all the pulse would go. Then, bass players witha really good sound and feel, who make youwant to dance, when they soloed it was,‘Ummm ... go back to walking.’“So my whole style was based on balancing28 DOWNBEAT August 2009