You’ve all heard it. I just pulled it out last night and said, Damn, that’s a good album. Christian McBride is all over the place, Ray Brown swings harder than ever. I saw him once at the Stanford Jazz Workshop about 12 years ago, and he came dressed in a light blue suit with a matching light blue fedora, and showed up about 30 minutes late. He told us that time was the most important element in jazz and bass playing.

He went on to describe how when he was a kid, when ever the “latest” album would come out, he and his friends would compete to see who could learn all the bass lines first. If someone didn’t know a particular line from an album, they would lock them out in the cold and tell them to come back when they got it.

Inspiring speaker, and phenomenal player. Check out the album, listen to the harmonies on “Summertime” and check out the the strumming on “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”