Christian McBride's New Jawn - Prime

 

Red vinyl double LP with etched D-side

Follow-up album Prime from the jazz quartet led by acclaimed bassist Christian McBride!

Bassist Christian McBride's quartet New Jawn — comprising trumpeter Josh Evans (Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Rasheid Ali), saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland (Roy Haynes, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Chris Dave, Bilal, Robert Glasper), and drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran, Joe Lovano, John Medeski) — is back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Prime. It's the follow-up to the quartet's Grammy-nominated Philly-centric self-titled album.

In Philadelphia slang, Jawn is an all-purpose term for a person, place or thing. Sure, McBride could have called his ensemble the the Christian McBride Quartet or the Christian McBride Group, or any number of other, somewhat more straitlaced variations on that basic theme. But this new chordless quartet — with trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and drummer Nasheet Waits — arrives with a bit too much grit under its fingernails to warrant a name quite that buttoned up. If there's one thing the acclaimed bassist knows, it's that when it comes to grit there's no better resource to draw from than his own hometown, Philadelphia. So, McBride turned to one of the city's most beloved colloquialisms to christen the group.

These four stellar musicians ably walk the razor's edge between thrilling virtuosity and gut-punch instinctiveness. Prime features original compositions from each band member as well as fresh takes on songs from Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Larry Young, enabling the eight-time Grammy-winner McBride to stretch his veteran wings.

Prime exemplifies jazz greats at the height of their powers who insist on scaling greater heights. It can't be contained to a singular style. It's the grittiness that embodies the word Jawn which also represents Christian McBride's Philly roots. "I wanted to do something that was a complete 180 and come at it from a completely different angle," McBride explained. "I've got to be a little more on my toes with the New Jawn — and I like that."

Side A

Head Bedlam

Prime

Moonchild

Side B

Obsequious

Lurkers

Side C

The Good Life

Dolphy Dust

East Broadway Rundown

Side D

Etching

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