In 1995 Dave Brubeck composed a piano and double bass duet titled Here Comes McBride, a public induction of a 20-something bassist into the lineage of jazz itself. This episode explores how Christian McBride, born in Philadelphia in May 1972, became the ultimate musical bridge, with more than 400 sideman recordings and 11 Grammy Awards spanning James Brown, Sting, Paul McCartney, Queen Latifah, and Celine Dion as well as the acoustic tradition. It starts with his roots on electric bass in funk and R&B, training at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts and Juilliard, and the call at 17 from saxophonist Bobby Watson that pulled him onto New York bandstands with Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, and Hank Jones while he came up alongside Joshua Redman and Roy Hargrove.

From Ray Brown’s 1992 SuperBass trio through his 1995 debut Gettin’ to It, the 2001 Philadelphia Experiment with Questlove and Uri Caine, the Five Peace Band with Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, and a big band that won the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble with all four of its albums, the episode follows his shift into institutional stewardship: creative chair for jazz at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival from 2016 to 2025, host of NPR’s Jazz Night in America, and, with his wife Melissa Walker, the Jazz House Kids academy in Montclair, New Jersey.

• Why electric and upright bass are two different grammars, not just two vocabularies
• How he escaped the gilded cage of the 1990s neo-traditionalist movement by becoming a bandleader
• Switching between triplet swing and J Dilla-style behind-the-grid timing on the Philadelphia Experiment
• Leading an 18-piece big band from the engine room of the rhythm section
• Small-group palate cleansers like A Christian McBride Situation, New Jawn, and Ursa Major