SFJAZZ presents Christian McBride & Ursa Major
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:00 PM, Sunday, March 23, 2025

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[7:03 PM] {lights down; greetings and announcements from Ross Eustis}
[7:07 PM] {applause at band entrance}

1. [7:08 PM] Smo (Mike King)
2. [7:21 PM] Black Moon (Christian McBride)
   [7:29 PM] {Greetings from CM; veiled shout out to JR}
3. [7:32 PM] One at a Time (Ely Perlman)
   [7:37 PM] {CM swap to 5-string bass}
4. [7:38 PM] ? Orecchiette (Mike King)
   [7:47 PM] {CM back- and fore-announcements; CM swaps back to contrabass}
5. [7:48 PM] La Fiesta (Chick Corea)
   [8:06 PM] {CM lauds the band; merch pitch; CM swaps to 5-string bass; MK swaps to Nord}
6. [8:08 PM] More Is (Savannah Harris)
   [8:19 PM] {CM tells us about his mom's reaction to the previous tune; introduction of the next tune; CM swaps back to contrabass}
7. [8:21 PM] Petrichor (Nicole Glover)
   [8:30 PM] {CM lauds the crowd; sets us up for possible guest sit-ins on the Encore; names the penultimate tune; swaps to 5-string bass}
8. [8:34 PM] Brouhaha (Christian McBride)
   [8:48 PM] {applause at set end; group bow}
   [8:50 PM] {band off}
   
   Encore
   [8:51 PM] {CM introduces the last tune}
9. [8:52 PM] Blues for Mel (Nicole Glover) » [8:55 PM] {Benny Green swaps in for Mike King at piano until the return of the head}
   [9:04 PM] {applause at show end}
   [9:05 PM] {bow and then all off}

• Nicole Glover: tenor saxophone;
• Savannah Harris: drums;
• Mike King: piano, Nord Stage keyboard;
• Christian McBride: 5-string bass, contrabass;
• Ely Perlman: guitar.

• Benny Green: piano;

Tonight was a really solid show: over two hours from start to finish, whew! I was most impressed by the first and last songs of the set, and by the burning E-flat blues of the encore. Guess that puts me in the up tempo camp tonight.

I can't say that a 7“ 45 rpm single is an attractive merch item to me, but I hope Christian earns attention and financial success from his effort to reach the vinyl-spinning masses. There have to be plenty of young folks who relish the idea of getting up every few minutes to flip to a B-side or put on a new disc, right? How else will they get in their 10,000 steps per day?

Having Benny Green join the band for the encore was a real treat, and it got me thinking that I probably ought to buy tickets to his coming solo gig at Piedmont Piano Company: note to self: hop to it buddy!

Earlier this month, Nate Chinen posted a great interview with Christian about his new band.

Andrew Gilbert posted a nice promo article spotlighting McBride's many upcoming shows with SFCV.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Ronald Davis posted a gallery of his shots to AllAboutJazz.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2025 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2025 event list! ☸ On to the next event!