Christian McBride's New Jawn Prime 2LP (Red Vinyl)

TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the July/August 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

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Christian McBride's New Jawn — trumpeter Josh Evans (Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Rasheid Ali), saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland (Roy Haynes, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Chris Dave, Bilal, Robert Glasper), and drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran, Joe Lovano, John Medeski) — is back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Prime, the follow-up to McBride's GRAMMY® nominated Philly-centric named group.

Featuring original compositions from each band member as well as fresh takes on songs from Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Larry Young, this group offers an exhilarating space of exploration for the 8-time GRAMMY® Award-winning McBride to stretch his veteran wings.

Prime exemplifies jazz greats at the height of their powers who insist on scaling greater heights. It can't be contained to a singular style. It's the grittiness that embodies the word Jawn which also represents Christian McBride's Philly roots. "I wanted to do something that was a complete 180 and come at it from a completely different angle," McBride explained. "I've got to be a little more on my toes with the New Jawn – and I like that."

The second album from Christian McBride's outré quartet New Jawn, 2023's Prime is somehow even more expressive and harmonically adventurous than its predecessor....This is exploratory, free-leaning post-bop and avant-garde jazz that's easily some of the most adventurous music of the bassist's career.

This is a fascinating recording by a band who can play it all and an early leader for my top recording of 2023.