Label: Mack Avenue Records, 2023

Personnel - Josh Evans: trumpet; Marcus Strickland: bass clarinet, tenor saxophone; Christian McBride: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums.

Hitting us with the force of a tornado right from the start, Prime, the second chapter of bassist/composer Christian McBride with his post-bop-meets-avant-jazz outfit New Jawn, relies on top-notch musicianship, uncommon technique, and refined taste to succeed. The quartet performs a rich repertoire consisting of two McBride original compositions, one each by his bandmates: trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist/bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland and drummer Nasheet Waits, and three refreshing covers with a lot to be savored.

The two opening numbers - McBride’s “Head Bedlam” and Strickland’s “Prime” - are particularly stirring. The group makes a cacophonous entrance in the former, prior to providing guidance and aligning structure through the bassist’s funky groove. In the latter piece, their proposition consists of angularity and ambiguity, rounded out with interesting-to-follow solos and smart accents that pulsate without totally breaking the swinging motion.

Evans’ “Dolphy Dust” is agreeably disconcerting in its swinging allurement and flows with plenty of Dolphy-esque sharp edges. Carrying less exuberance and prone to reflection, Waits’ “Moonchild” kicks off with sharply intoned bass clarinet over articulated bass lines. Equally in this spirit but pouring different emotions, McBride’s “Lurkers” contemplates arco bass and tom-tom fantasies, whose mournful tones can reach spiritual freedom at times.

The covers were chosen wisely and the stupendous energy that characterizes this quartet is brought to the fore, firstly on Larry Young’s mercurial “Obsequious”, a post-bop workout delivered with a free posture and surprising transitions. Evans blows his horn with gleeful enjoyment and geometrical precision; he is followed by Strickland, who is less impetuous but more inquisitive and mysterious. The proceedings end up in a bouncing funk that you can dance to. Moreover, you can do the same during the jubilant Latin tinge of Ornette Coleman’s “The Good Life”.

The session is concluded with Sonny Rollins’ “East Broadway Rundown”, whose initial bass pedal goes beyond the theme statement, and where a bass monologue precedes an audacious drum solo. What McBride’s high-caliber quartet captures here is well worth listening to.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Head Bedlam ► 02 - Prime ► 04 - Obsequious

Label: Mack Avenue, 2018

Personnel - Marcus Strickland: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Josh Evans: trumpet; Christian McBride: double bass; Nasheet Waits: drums.

Philadelphia-born Christian McBride, one of the most fluid and fluent jazz bassists in the world, debuts a new quartet, New Jawn, whose name derives from Philly jargon and can be translated as ‘new joint’. The quartet affiliates - saxophonist Marcus Strickland, trumpeter Josh Evans, and drummer Nasheet Waits - contribute with two compositions each to a colorful song list that also admits Wayne Shorter’s “Sightseeing”.

The group’s eponymous album spreads thrillingly fresh ideas that surge with infectious energy and grandiose conviction. A great example of that is the opening tune, McBride’s “Walkin’ Funny”, which blends the exhilaration of Lee Morgan’s melodies with asymmetric notions of rhythm and collective improvisatory effervescence that refuses any commercial approach in favor of creative freedom. This same posture marks Waits’ “Ke-Kelli Sketch”, where compelling bowed bass is turned into a galloping groove, at the same time that early loose drumming becomes profusely acute, erecting an elastic avant-garde background over which Evans engraves discernible rhythmic figures. The foundation is reconfigured into a soul-imbued template to welcome Strickland’s melody-driven speech.

Evans’ pieces, “The Ballad of Ernie Washington” and “Pier One Import”, bring chunks of tradition in its rollicking lines. The former brims with a melodicism that is worthy of the Great American Songbook, while the latter is a post-bop incursion with lustrous unison phrases and killing solos. In turn, Strickland bestows “The Middle Me”, a swing ride taken at a burning tempo with a Freddie Hubbard-like intensity, and “Seek The Source”, a blues where everyone finds room to stretch out.

Employing brushes for a more meditative circumstance, Waits outlines his “Kush” song with delicacy. McBride doesn’t let this low-key vibe curb his arco extemporization while Strickland upholds the groove on bass clarinet. The bandleader also improvises on the moderate walker “John Day”, a tune he wrote in 3/4 with a gorgeous head riff and a Nardis-like semblance.

Communicating with countless details and peculiarities, these cats prove they dominate the jazz idiom from end to end.