‘The Movement Revisited,’ an elaborate production by Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist Mr. Christian McBride, premieres in Philadelphia for one night only.
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The fingers of Mr. Christian McBride, a Philadelphia-born jazz bassist who grew into one of the most recorded musicians of his generation, walk up and down his full-bodied instrument effortlessly whenever he’s on stage; his sometimes intricate solos, which to a layman would appear to be a cacophony of undertones, can make even the most celebrated virtuoso stand still in awe.
With such talent, one could assume that a man like Mr. McBride—who has won four Grammy Awards and will appear twice at the White House next year—creates his work with the same ease in which it’s performed.
And though I have no insight into the degree in which Mr. McBride labors over the copyrights that make up his catalog, I can confirm that there’s at least one composition that he exerted considerable brainpower to materialize: ‘The Movement Revisited,’ an elaborate production that pairs music to speech and is centered around four iconic black activists.
The idea came to be in 1998 when Mr. McBride was approached by the Portland Arts Society to commission a piece that would augment their Black History programming. They wanted him to write something for a choir, but he had little-to-no experience in that genre, and he still doesn’t.
Mr. McBride enlisted the services of Minnesota-born singer and producer Mr. J.D Steele, who at age 16 directed a 100-voice choir.
“We will work together; give me the ideas you want the choir to sing,” Mr. McBride, in a phone interview, recalled his collaborator saying.
In the fall of 1998, with a choir from Maine and his quartet, Mr. McBride produced four concerts, and with them, provided his audience insight into his unique perspective of black activism and the leaders who, from the late 50s to the early 70s, made it something worthy of notation.
Three of the four famous black activists whose likeness appears in ‘The Movement Revisited’ are the personalities most commonly associated with the eras depicted: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ms. Rosa Parks, and Mr. Malcolm X.
It’s the fourth figure that requires a double-take: Mr. Muhammad Ali, who in 2012 in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center was awarded the Liberty Medal.
Mr. McBride said “Why Ali?” is a frequently asked question. He wasn’t a religious leader or a political leader, and he wasn’t actually a part of the civil rights movement, Mr. McBride concedes, but “his refusal to go to Vietnam was a pivotal act of the 60s.”
“Here’s a man who went to the Olympics and won an award and came back home to restaurants that didn’t serve blacks; can’t blame the man for being how he was,” stated Mr. McBride, who said he always felt a certain bond with Mr. Ali.
Mr. McBride produced ‘The Movement Revisited’ three times after its initial debut: in 2008 at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; in 2010 at the Detroit Jazz Festival—a fifth movement was added at this performance: Mr. Barack Obama; “The civil rights movement got us a black president”—and a few years after that in Philadelphia with the University of Penn Jazz ensemble.
But never has Mr. McBride produced ‘The Movement Revisited’ in his hometown, backed by his own band, which makes his one-night only performance at the Merriam Theater on Saturday, November 21st at 8pm, following a free, pre-show panel discussion on ‘The New Civil Rights Movement’ at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts moderated by I, that much more special.
“I’m really proud to be from Philly,” he tells Techbook Online after being questioned about the local institutions that cultivated his love for music and prepared him for stardom.
Institutions like Temple University, Philly Youth Orchestra and The Settlement Music School—where local jazz great Mr. Lovett Hines often took the class to see live performances—were among those named by Mr. McBride, who before the phone press conference with journalists last week was doing an interview, for the first-time ever, with his famous father, Mr. Lee Smith, also a Philadelphia-born bassist.
It is quite possible that as the years go on more movements—like the current national one that’s reaffirming the value of black life through protests—will be added to ‘The Movement Revisited.’ But augmentations to an already grandiose and ambitious production is the most Mr. McBride’s fan should look forward to, as another complex creation fusing jazz and live theater doesn’t seem to be in McBride’s future.
“I can’t imagine I’ll ever write something on this scale again,” he said.
‘The Modern Day Civil Rights Movement,’ a free 6:30pm panel discussion at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia preceding Grammy Award-winner Mr. Christian McBride’s Nov. 21st 8pm concert at the Merriam Theater, will be moderated by Christopher “Flood the Drummer” Norris.
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