Last April, Xavier University’s Jazz Series welcomed one of contemporary Jazz’s greatest musicians, bassist/composer/arranger Christian McBride, to the campus’ Gallagher Student Center Theater for a dazzling trio show. McBride is coming back to Cincinnati on Saturday, Oct. 27 to kick off the series’ 2018-2019 season.
Last year, McBride performed with his trio Tip City. This time around, McBride will appear with his New Jawn band, named for his new album, Christian McBride’s New Jawn, which will be released the day before the Xavier gig. As he explained during his show last year, “Jawn” is slang from McBride’s hometown of Philadelphia, defined as “an all-purpose term for a person, place or thing.” In this context, McBride’s new Jawn is his new trio/project — his "new thing." The group features trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland and drummer Nasheet Waits.
Here’s a recent session the group did for Pacific Northwest public radio station KNKX.
And here’s a description of the New Yawn project from KNKX:
"After a pair of successful trio albums and a Grammy-winning big band release a year ago, McBride's latest outfit is pianoless. In the tradition of similar bands, such as Ornette Coleman's two-horns-bass-and-drums quartet, the lack of chordal instruments seems to free up each player and challenge them at the same time."
McBride appears on the cover of the September issue of Downbeat magazine with Cincinnati native/music legend Bootsy Collins. Read more about it here.
On Nov. 16, Mark Guiliana Space Heroes — featuring Chris Morrissey, Jason Rigby and Mike Lewis — play the Xavier Jazz Series for the final 2018 show.
Hugely creative and massively respected in Jazz circles as a drummer, Guiliana was heavily involved in David Bowie’s album, Blackstar, the legend’s final LP before his death for which Guiliana won a Grammy. He is incredibly versatile, drawing from a full buffet of musical influences; Time Out London said, “What happens when you add hard bop drum masters Elvin Jones and Art Blakey to a 1980s Roland 808 drum machine, divide the result by J Dilla and then multiply to the power of Squarepusher? Answer: Mark Guiliana.”
NOTE: This Guiliana show will be held at the Music Resource Center, about a mile and a half from Xavier’s Gallagher Student Center, where all of the other Jazz Series shows are being held (click here for MRC info).
In 2019, the Xavier Jazz Series will feature even more internationally-renowned artists:
Jan. 11: Igor Butman and Moscow Jazz Orchestra’s Tribute to Benny Goodman
March 22: Avishai Cohen Quartet
April 16: Brad Mehldau
For tickets and more information on the Xavier Jazz Series’ forthcoming season, click here.
