Tradition Fuels the Future: A Conversation with Artistic Director Christian McBride on the Newport Jazz Festival at Seventy

The Newport Jazz Festival has survived seven decades primarily due to how forward-looking it has been. The event has generally recognized talent above notoriety. If you present high-quality artistry, people will support it. Many of the greats tied to the Newport legacy made their most important appearances when they were underrecognized or overlooked. Before placing his bell to the mic at the 1955 Festival, Miles Davis was written off by many due to his drug struggles. Founder-producer George Wein booked him only after the trumpeter asked him to. At Newport, Miles put his horn right up to the mic and played a rendition of  Monk’s “Round Midnight” that was so moving it led to a thirty-year relationship with Columbia Records and some of the best music ever pressed to vinyl. A year later, Duke Ellington’s waning career was reborn at Freebody Park when he drove a crowd to wild abandon. Although George Wein is no longer with us, the last several years have shown that, in Christian McBride, he left a worthy successor as curator of the event’s bookings. From his group Ursa Major, which features younger musicians, to the bassist extraordinaire’s take on Artificial Intelligence and the mutability of genre, it’s clear McBride is similarly looking to the future, not the past. And yet, as he understands, a full vision of the road before us requires an adequate knowledge and love of what came before. 

We sat down with McBride to discuss where Newport is on its platinum anniversary, the road it’s traveled, and the miles yet to go. 

PostGenre: Before we get into Newport, you have been working on some interesting projects lately. For starters, you were recently on NPR’s ‘Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.’ What did you enjoy about that experience? 

Christian McBride: Being on stage at the Mann Center for the first time in my life, in front of that many people doing something fun like that, was great. I’m a big fan of ‘Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me.’ They had me on to do the game ‘Not My Job’, where they do wordplay on your profession. I was hoping with bass, they would go with questions about baseball. But it ended up being bass fishing instead. Though it worked out fine. I got two out of three correct. 

PG: You also recently released a bass duo recording with Edgar Meyer. The album is incredible.

CM: Ohh, thank you. 

PG: You two are friends. At what point did you decide you should record together?

CM: Well, we’ve been doing a series of performances together for several years now. At least since 2010. We’ve also done a couple of tours. We toured the [United Kingdom] around 2016, and we also did a short U.S. tour. After all of those performances and gathering all of our repertoire, it was only logical that at some point, we got to the studio to make a recording. We started in 2019, but the pandemic came along, and we had to pause everything for a couple of years. We picked it back up in late 2021 and early 2022. 

PG: And right now, you are on tour with your band, Ursa Major. What can you share about the group?

CM: I can tell you a lot about Ursa Major. I’m very excited about this young band of mine. We’ve been playing together for almost two years now.  We have a new single that’s gonna drop in a month or so on my imprint, Brother Mister. It will first be available on vinyl as a 7” 45 and then will available digitally sometime in the fall. This tour is my first time being on the road with a group of people who were either not born or were babies when I played my first gig in New York thirty-five years ago. 

PG: Is it strange being in a group with musicians who are so much younger than you? 

CM: Yeah, it’s a little strange, or at least it was at first. It’s not so strange now, but I gotta watch my references when I’m around them. [Laughing]. 

But the younger musicians I am working with are fantastic. I met our guitarist, Ely Perlman, in 2021 when he was a student at my jazz camp in Aspen, Colorado [JAS Academy]. He knocked me out. I first heard Mike King play with Deedee Bridgewater a few years ago. He is one of the most exciting young pianists on the scene today. [Drummer] Savannah [Harris] has been around probably the longest out of anyone in the band. She’s been working with Kenny Baron and all kinds of people. I greatly enjoy playing with her. Nicole Glover has been one of the hottest young saxophone players over the last few years, as I’m sure you know. She’s also in the group Artemis, which will be playing at Newport this summer.

PG: This segues nicely into a discussion about this summer’s Festival. This year, the Newport Jazz Festival turns seventy. Do you have any thoughts on the momentous occasion?

CM: Newport has seen and presented every development in jazz since 1954. I’m so proud and happy to be involved with that legacy. And that legacy will very surely carry on. 

PG: You recently had an incredible interview with Peter Martin. In it, you stated that “tradition fuels the future.” Do you have any sense of how the tradition of Newport over the last seventy years may most shape the future of music, especially with things like Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly finding its way into music?

CM: With specific regards to AI, I think we still have yet to see exactly how that would be implemented, not just for our festival but for any festival. However that ends up being implemented, at the very least, it will be interesting and creative. Every time there’s a significant technological development, somebody is always going to do something different with it. Musically, you end up with things like that new Drake track that has a fake Tupac voice on it. I’d rather not go that far, but I think there are some ways that you can be creative while still being personal. I’m sure there is a way that I could potentially sample Miles Davis and have “him” on my next album. But I don’t want to do that. That feels somewhat sacrilegious. We’ll see how it all develops with AI. 

PG: This summer’s festival also marks the fifty-fifth anniversary of James Brown’s performance at Newport. You are a big fan of not only James but also that specific performance. Do you remember the first time you ever heard it? 

CM: Yes. The way I first heard it is actually somewhat of a sore spot in the history of Newport. There is a website called Wolfgang’s Vault, and long before I got in with the Newport family, being such a big music nerd, I went to that website and heard a bunch of performances. James Brown at Newport was one of them. Hopefully, the Festival can reacquire the rights to those important performances.

PG: That would be great. George Wein sold those rights off when the festival was struggling financially and needed money to keep going. 

CM: Yeah, yeah. 

PG: And this summer, your Jam Jawn group will include someone who was a part of that performance: Fred Wesley.

CM: That’s right.

PG: Fred is mostly known for funk music but also has a deep love of jazz. Do you have a sense of what direction this year’s Jam Jawn group may go musically?

CM: Well, I’m sure we’ll cover a little bit of everything. Fred, Steve Jordan, Russell Gunn, Christian Sands, and Diane [Reeves] are all great people who are going to be in the performance. One of the fun things about that group is that I’m never really sure where we will go. 

PG: In general, what is your process for selecting the musicians for the Jam Jawn? We have discussed this before, but in past years, the groups were mostly people otherwise playing at the festival, with maybe one or two additional musicians not otherwise on the festival lineup involved. This year, the group consists entirely of people who are not otherwise performing that weekend. 

CM: Right, right.

Yeah, I don’t know how that came up. Picking musicians for the Jam Jawn has always been a little random. Like last year, we had Bob James. He had not played the festival with his own group in quite some time. I think he played there with Fourplay sometime in the early 2000s. I just thought that for where he is in his career, I needed to get him. The same thought went into selecting Fred Wesley and Steve Jordan this year. With the Jam Jawn, it all comes down to the people I want to play with. 

PG: To name another legendary artist, you booked Nile Rodgers and Chic as the headliner for Sunday. This summer marks the forty-fifth anniversary of Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979. Many call that event  “the night disco died,” and Rodgers himself once likened Demolition Night to a Nazi book-burning. What a lot of people today do not realize is that disco was originally a Black art form.

CM: Mhmm

PG: Was the decision to book Niles Rodgers and Chic, one of the great disco bands, as the closing set of the Festival,  in part a way to underscore how disco is a great music that is part of the tree of Black music that also runs through Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Mahalia Jackson, James Brown, the Roots and so many others that have performed at Newport over the years?

CM: Not consciously. 

I’ve just been a fan of Chic for a long time. And even when disco was at its most controversial, no one disliked Chic. They have always been the gold standard of contemporary dance music. I always felt they were exempt from criticism because Nile Rodgers is such a great musician and producer. And he has stayed contemporary throughout his entire career, whether working with David Bowie in the ‘80s or Daft Punk much more recently. He’s a legend, and I’m glad that they were available and willing to come. 

I saw Nile and Chic play not that long ago in Aspen. I even sat in with them there. And then I saw them again at the Montreal Jazz Festival. They’re still at the top of their game, and I thought they’d be a wonderful closer. 

PG: They are one of your jazz-adjacent bookings. Going back to your interview with Peter Martin, you discussed with him a few times how some musicians were surprised early on that you did more than solely straight-ahead jazz. Do you have those experiences in mind when you’re picking jazz-adjacent bookings? 

CM: Not really. The only conscious thought I have in mind is to keep the selections less adjacent rather than more. I don’t want anybody to ever misinterpret what our festival is. It’s a challenge in 2024 to find a lot of young artists who are doing strictly jazz. And that’s OK. I mean, you could book a lot of artists that many people don’t know but are playing pure straight-ahead jazz. But I think there needs to be a balance between art and commerce, which is always going to be there.  Always. Always.

I think, last year, having people like Charles McPherson, Charles Lloyd, and Herbie Hancock added to a great balance. We could invite them all over again, but I like to try to bring as much new blood to Newport as possible. And there were a couple of people who had to drop off because of some things that came up on their calendars. So, we did have a couple of pure jazz artists that weren’t able to make it this year. We’ll invite them back for next year. But yeah, my only conscious thought is for people to leave the festival hearing really good “actual” jazz. 

PG: It seems like the balance is working well. This year is the first time in many years that the Newport Jazz Festival has sold out all three days more than a month in advance. 

CM: Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I feel that this year may be a little more adjacent than usual, but I don’t feel like what we are presenting is outside the realm of what we have in past years. We need big names, and we want the big names, but we never feel commercial pressure to bring in pop acts to simply sell tickets. We pick adjacent folks who fit with the rest of the Festival, not simply because they are a big name. It’s the Newport Jazz Festival. People want to come no matter what. 

PG: To ask you about two bigger name adjacent artists at Newport this summer, Brittany Howard and Elvis Costello have both played at the Newport Folk Festival over the years. What made you feel they should also perform at the Newport Jazz Festival?

CM: Well, again, at this point, 2024, I don’t think it really should be a surprise to see anybody. As far as Elvis Costello, his set is going to be a big surprise for everyone. I know Elvis is known for a particular thing. He’s a rock and pop legend. But what he has in store for us is gonna be very special. That’s probably already too much of a giveaway, but wait til you see it. 

PG: Yeah, his band has Donny McCaslin, Michael Leonhart, and Endea Owens, among others. It seems like he will have a heavy jazz contingency with him and likely wouldn’t be the stereotypical set most people would seem to expect from him. 

CM: That’s right. And the same goes for Brittany as well. Brittany has been collaborating with Robert Glasper and doing some things that are in the middle between “jazz” and “non-jazz.” I worked with Brittany a few years back when we did a Ray Charles tribute at the White House with my big band. It was aired on PBS. Brittany can do a lot of things musically. 

PG: As far as jazz musicians, one thing that is interesting about the lineup is the meditative element. You have Robert Glasper, who just came out with his first meditative album [Let Go (Loma Vista, 2024)]. You also have Terrace Martin, whose recent Grounded (Sounds of Crenshaw, 2024) is ambient as well. And other artists – André 3000, Shabaka, and, to some extent, Amaro Freitas, seem to be exploring that same vibe. What do you think it says about jazz in 2024 that there is such a significant focus on meditative and peaceful-sounding stuff? 

CM: Everybody is dealing with anxiety. Everybody’s on edge. Everybody’s angry. Everybody’s kind of uncertain about the future, particularly with democracy in this country and what’s going on politically. It seems a lot of what is going on today is just very weird. There are a lot of artists who are making music that deals with meditation, peace, and calm to try to address these problems. They try to send out some vibes to human beings all over the world by resetting them and getting them in touch with their soul.

PG: On the flip side, in terms of energy, you also booked the Sun Ra Arkestra. Incredibly, the band is still led by Marshall Allen. Even though he is now a hundred years old, he seems to have more energy than many young folks.

CM: You know, I couldn’t be more excited that the band agreed to come back to Newport and do the Festival again. We brought them in 2019, and they were incredible. I’m pretty sure this is the first time a hundred-year-old man will be at Newport to lead a band. That by itself is wild. 

PG: To ask about another legendary musician who will be at Newport, Stanley Clarke will perform with his N•4EVER group. As a bassist, has Clarke been much of an influence on you? 

CM: How could he not be? I always tell people that if there were a Bible of the history of doubling with both the double bass and the electric bass, Stanley would be its Genesis. It all starts with him. 

PG: And you will also have the Jazz is Dead team return to Newport this summer. This time its focus is on Acid Jazz. It seems that Acid Jazz is less discussed among the different subgenres of jazz. Do you have a sense of why that may be?

CM: Is it less discussed? I don’t know. But what those guys have been doing with their series in [Los Angeles] has been extremely interesting. In fact, Ursa Major’s very first gig was part of the Jazz is Dead Series out there, back in June of 2022. Adrian [Younge] and Ali [Shaheed Muhammad] are doing great things with their series, especially with a lot of international music. They’ve been playing with many Cuban musicians and Brazilian legends. But they have also been working a lot with some underrecognized soul jazz heroes from the ‘70s, like Doug Carn and Azar Lawerence. The whole Jazz is Dead series has been doing incredible work. 

PG: Changing gears a little, we recently talked to Jaleel Shaw. As part of that discussion, we spoke a little about his teacher, Lovett Hines. You were also one of Mr. Hines’ students. What do you feel you have learned the most from him?

CM: Well, I want to say something about both Mr. Hines and Jaleel. 

As far as Mr. Hines – who will be turning eighty-one in a few weeks – when we were coming up in his program in Philly, he was always exposing us to many great musicians. He would bring in people like Max Roach, Dr. Billy Taylor, or Grover Washington, Jr. to work with us students. And through that, we got deeper in touch with the creative part of how this music is built. He allowed us to get in touch with creativity also by allowing us to make mistakes.  That openness is what I always remember about Mr. Hines. He would let us bring in our own tunes. He would let us bring in our own arrangements. There was never really that didactic way of teaching where you gotta play this note with this chord. He would do that too, because he wanted us to learn the science of harmony, melody, and rhythm. But at the end of the day, you are working with an art form. Mr. Hines would let you run yourself into a corner and figure out your own way to get out, which I’ve greatly appreciated. 

As for Jaleel, he is an interesting case. He has been probably one of the most omnipresent  musicians in jazz over the last twenty-plus years. He’s virtually had every major gig you could have. He played with Roy Haynes for many years. He’s been on tour with Dave Holland. He played with Nate Smith. For all that he’s accomplished and all of the people that he’s played with, I don’t think a lot of people think of him as one of today’s leading figures of jazz. But when it comes to the total landscape of this music,  Jaleel has been right there. I think he is an example of somebody who’s done a lot, seen a lot, experienced a lot, and can express a lot from both a “pure” jazz standpoint and a jazz-adjacent one. I’m very happy to bring Jaleel to play at Newport with his own band. 

PG: Of course, like him, you have performed at Newport with Roy Haynes before. In 2004, you were part of a tribute to John Coltrane with Roy, Ravi Coltrane, Michael Brecker, and McCoy Tyner. Do you have any thoughts on that performance twenty years later?

CM: Yep. I remember it was freezing. I think there had been rain earlier that day. By the time we got on stage, it was cold, and much of the audience had left. I felt bad that they did because it’s like, “Man, you ain’t gonna ever see a band like this ever again.” But it was a great gig and a wonderful moment to get to play with those giants. We’ll see what memories will be made at this year’s festival.

Catch Christian McBride’s Jam Jawn at the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday, August 4, 2024. More information on the Festival can be found here. We will be providing live coverage of the event. You can read more about Christian McBride on his website.