Christian McBride Tells Stories with his Stings at Tanglewood

July 18, 5pm | Lenox, MA | Tickets required

The Tanglewood Learning Institute's Spotlight Series brings Christian McBride to Seiji Ozawa Hall on July 18 for an evening that combines three distinct elements: a personal story from his career, a live bass performance, and a conversation hosted by Catherine Burns, Peabody Award-winning former artistic director of The Moth.

The story McBride will tell is a specific one: as a young musician, he was booked on a live album recording and tour with Sting — one of his childhood idols — and the showboating, anxieties, and fumbles that followed. It's a night built around the TLI's interest in storytelling as well as music, and McBride is an unusually gifted raconteur for someone whose primary job is to make things sound good rather than say them. He hosts NPR's Jazz Night in America and has long had a gift for bridging the gap between music, history, and audience.

McBride grew up in West Philadelphia in a musical family—his father played bass with R&B bands including the Delfonics and performed with Mongo Santamaria; his great uncle Howard Cooper was also a noted Philly bassist—and attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts alongside Questlove, Black Thought, Joey DeFrancesco, and all of Boyz II Men. He left for Juilliard at 17, was immediately snatched up by alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, and spent the next several years playing in the bands of Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, and others while simultaneously running with his own generation — Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau. He has since appeared on more than 400 recordings as a sideman, won eleven Grammy Awards, and performed with virtually everyone, from Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea to Sting, James Brown, Paul McCartney, and the Roots. His most recent album, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1, reunites his big band with an array of guest vocalists including Dianne Reeves, Samara Joy, Cécile McLorin Salvant, and Sting alongside former Police bandmate Andy Summers.

Burns, who will conduct the conversation following McBride's performance, spent 26 years building The Moth into one of the premier storytelling platforms in the country, receiving a Peabody Award for her work there.

Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, 297 West St., Lenox, MA. Tickets at bso.org.