exystence club

Christian McBride brings together all of his varied stylistic passions on 2026’s Points of Light. The album is the bassist’s first with his quartet Ursa Major, an exploratory ensemble of younger improvisers from across jazz, gospel, and R&B, featuring saxophonist Nicole Glover, keyboardist Mike King, guitarist Ely Perlman, and drummer Savannah Harris. Also on board is keyboardist Quintin Gulledge and keyboardist Terrace Martin, the latter of whom also produced the album. While acclaimed for his deep grasp of the acoustic hard bop traditions, McBride has long investigated his many diverse influences, even digging into Weather Report-style electric fusion and R&B as far back as 2003’s Vertical Vision. Here, he strikes a nice balance, moving between…

The fourth album by the 17-piece Christian McBride Big Band is nothing like your dad’s big band albums. Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 is as much a vocal album as a big band effort, and within those vocals lie several genres.
Now, as surprising as that may sound, it is more typical of Christian McBride’s career than not. His versatility matches his virtuosity, and the former may well be his primary trait.
The opener unites two of the three members of The Police as Sting and guitarist Andy Summers proffer one of the band’s biggest hits, “Murder by Numbers.” The song was the B-side of “Every Breath You Take” and marks the first time the two bandmates have played together since the band’s 2007-2008 reunion tour. The tune…