Christian McBride Announces New Ursa Major Album 'Points of Light'
(MPG) 11x GRAMMY Award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader Christian McBride announced Points of Light, the debut album from his newest ensemble Ursa Major.
The group features an extraordinary lineup of next-generation jazz musicians: saxophonist Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, pianist Mike King, and drummer Savannah Harris. Produced by Terrace Martin (Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock), Points of Light will be released on October 30 via Mack Avenue Records. Alongside the announcement, McBride has released his rendition of George Duke's "No Rhyme, No Reason," with incredible soundscapes and vocoder from Terrace Martin.
Over the years, Christian McBride has led a number of vibrant bands, each with its own singular identity - from the vintage acoustic jazz of Inside Straight and the boisterous swing of the Christian McBride Big Band to the classic rhythm section sound of the Christian McBride Trio, the experimental audacity of New Jawn, and his sweeping Civil Rights opus The Movement Revisited. But McBride found himself missing the anything-and-everything-goes freedom of a band that could weave together those multifarious strands. So in 2022, he began assembling the quintet that came to be known as Ursa Major, with that expansive vision in mind. "I had been itching to put together a new band, what I like to call a 'hybrid band,' for some time," McBride explains. "I didn't know at first what form that band would take, but I knew that it had to be a young band."
The resulting quintet brings together drummer Savannah Harris, saxophonist Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, and pianist Mike King - four young musicians McBride selected for their flexibility, fearlessness and individuality. Harris was recommended by a number of colleagues as someone who could bring the swing, funk and freedom McBride was looking for, while Glover came to his attention through the musicians' grapevine as "one of the most heralded voices in jazz." Perlman caught McBride's ear at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program, where he serves as Artistic Director, and King emerged as the unanimous recommendation of Harris and Glover when McBride asked them to suggest potential pianists.
Ursa Major's debut album, Points of Light, captures the boundless spirit that has defined the band from the beginning. The title reflects the luminous individuality McBride sees in his bandmates. "I have four young stars here," he recalls thinking. For the album's sonic direction, McBride called in multi-instrumentalist, singer, rapper, and producer Terrace Martin, whose boundary-stretching approach bridges the band's jazz foundation with McBride's deep history across funk, soul, hip-hop, and pop. Martin captured the band's live feel in the studio before adding a layer of studio wizardry alongside GRAMMY-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist Quintin Gulledge, incorporating synths, keyboards and vocoder without interfering with the sound, vibe and camaraderie the group had forged onstage. The album consists of original contributions from every member of the band, with the sole cover - George Duke's 1992 single "No Rhyme, No Reason" - arising spontaneously from conversations in the control room.
"This album is basically an extension of what we've been doing live for the last four years," McBride concludes. "It's been fun to watch a band develop and grow and progress when everything is so wide open. They don't say no to anything, which is a wonderful thing."
Christian McBride & Ursa Major Tour Dates:
Sep. 12-13: San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ - Miner Auditorium
Sep. 16-18: Tokyo, Japan - Blue Note Tokyo
Sep. 19: Takasaki, Japan - Takasaki City Theatre
Sep. 21: Kanazawa, Japan - Kanazawa Jazz Street Festival @ Akabana Concert Hall
Sep. 22: Noto, Japan - Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum - Art Hall
Sep. 24: Osaka, Japan - Billboard Live
Sep. 28-29: Athens, Greece - Gazarte
Sep. 30: Istanbul, Turkey - AKM İstanbul
Oct. 1-2: London, UK - Ronnie Scott's
Oct. 4: Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg
Oct. 5: Heidelberg, Germany - Enjoy Jazz Festival
Oct. 6: Zurich, Switzerland - Moods
Oct. 7: Nancy, France - Nancy Jazz Pulsations
Oct. 21: Boston, MA - Berklee PAC
Oct. 22: Amherst, MA - Bowker Auditorium @ UMASS
Oct. 23-25: Richmond, VA - Modlin Jazz Fest
Oct. 26: Greensboro, NC - UNCG School of Music
Oct. 29: Athens, GA - UGA
Oct. 30: Palm Beach, FL - Glazer Hall
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