Christian McBride Talks Playing Bass for James Brown and His Dolly Parton Dreams
The Philly-raised bassist was just on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new album.
Christian McBride / Photograph by Emily Assiran
CAPA grad Christian McBride has been busy. The jazz bassist recently released a new album, which features a song with Sting and Andy Summers from the Police. He took to the stage of Jimmy Kimmel Live a couple of weeks ago with Jeffrey Osborne. And he’s now practicing for a two-week run at the Village Vanguard in New York while planning a weeklong Caribbean cruise for music lovers that will include a host of his talented friends and collaborators from over the years. Here, McBride tells us which Eagles player he’d love to jam with and about the time his bass fell apart live on Japanese television.
I was named after … Christiaan Barnard, the first doctor to perform a human-to-human heart transplant.
I grew up … in West Philly, near 55th and Locust.
I left Philly … right after graduating from CAPA in 1989 to prepare for my studies at Juilliard. My wife, Melissa, and I have lived just outside of New York for 20 years.
I met her at … an anti-war rally in 2003.
The largest crowd I’ve ever performed for was … tens of thousands of people at the Tokyo Dome in 1991 for the Playboy Jazz Festival.
Jazz is … anything you can somehow connect to Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington. If you can do that, you’ve probably got something close to jazz.
My musical talents came from … my dad and great-uncle, both bass players. That’s where the bass talent comes from. But I got my ear from my mother and her brother.
I grew up listening to … Motown and Gamble and Huff, plus a little jazz and classical.
The last time I was in Philly … was to see my mom not long ago. She’s still in West Philly. I pop in and out.
My worst subject at CAPA was … Spanish. Not because I didn’t understand it. It’s just that I would ditch Spanish all the time to practice music.
My favorite football team is … E-A-G-L-E-S all the way, baby. If you ever see me wearing anything for any New York team, know that I lost a bet. I’m actually wearing a Flyers hat right now. Do you know anybody at the Eagles? Because what I really want to do is record a big band version of the Eagles fight song. Plus, I found out that Zack Baun plays double bass like me, and I’d love to jam with him.
Christian McBride at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2024. (Getty Images)
My new album is … Without Further Ado: Volume 1. It’s with my big band and features a wonderful array of vocalists, including a reunion of two-thirds of the Police: Sting and Andy Summers.
One performer I would give anything to play with is … Dolly Parton! She’s on my bucket list. And I wish I could have played with Frank Sinatra.
Some of my schoolmates at CAPA included … Questlove, Black Thought, Joey DeFrancesco, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and all of Boyz II Men.
My most embarrassing moment on stage was … when I was playing with Roy Hargrove on Japanese television and the bridge on my bass broke and the bass fell apart in the middle of a song. It disintegrated right in front of my eyes.
My biggest dream-come-true performance was … September 6, 2006, the Hollywood Bowl with James Brown. He died three months later.
The problem with the music industry is … that if you are not a pop star or you are not a songwriter whose songs get played by pop stars, you are not going to make any money. When you have somebody like Snoop Dogg complaining about his earnings from streaming, you know there’s a problem.
You cannot beat me at … Texas hold ’em.
I won my first Grammy in … 2005. I’m up to nine.
To people who say that jazz is a dying art form, I say … that they’ve been saying that for about 60 years.
The first big concert I went to in life was … the Isley Brothers at the old Civic Centra arena in West Philly, probably in 1978.
The best thing about my job is … that I get to see the world and experience so many different cultures.
The worst is … that I rarely get to stay home.
If you want to see me live … come up to the Village Vanguard in New York in December. I’m there from December 2nd through 7th and again from December 9th through the 14th.
My secret talent is … that I am a closet comedian, and I once won a karaoke contest. People were like, who is this big Black dude singing Sinatra like that?
Published as “One of Us: Christian McBride” in the October 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
