Press
Audio/Video Interviews - Newspaper Articles - Electronic Press Kit
 |
The Music is the Message by Theodore P. Mahne |
Sept. 13, 2007
Hot-fingered work by pianist Jesse McBride echoes that mood, dropping in dissonant notes that reflect suffering and struggle that are conquered by the persistant rhythms. McBride's playing in the soulful second movement was elegiac and dreamy, well matched with words that bemoan the violence wracking the city. These accompany Lokumbe's burnished warmth on the mournful trumpet, which gently weeps before gasping out a final breath.
(excerpt)
 |
The Big Easy Comes to the Big Apple By Larrison Campbell and Susan Lee |
On a warm spring evening, Jesse McBride, a jazz pianist from New Orleans, ambled down Christopher Street in the West Village, toting a large plastic bag of CDs.
“My friend and I, we just hit up the Vault,” said McBride, referring to the downtown record store. “I've got to restock, you know? I lost everything, all my music, even my computer. Everything.
Mike Barile and Steve Armstrong of Tall Big Wish rehearse in Barile’s Brooklyn apartment.
Watch Jesse McBride discusses his experiences as a New Orleans transplant.
Watch Allen Touissaint talk about the essence of New Orleans music.
Watch New Orleans musicians reflect on bringing their music to NYC.
McBride, 26, left New Orleans the day before Hurricane Katrina hit last August with only his car and a few changes of clothes. He went to live with family in Houston until he was allowed back into his house in November. Then, salvaging what he could, he set his sights on New York's jazz scene.
While New Orleans is historically known as the birthplace of jazz, New York City has been
considered the jazz capital.
A number of musicians who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina moved to New York, drawn by the vibrant music scene or friends and family already living in the city. Kim Foreman, a spokesman for the New Orleans chapter of the American Federation of Musicians, estimated that roughly half of the city's 4,000 musicians relocated after the storm, though just how many of them relocated to New York is unclear. Only half of the New Orleans population, which topped 470,000 before the storm, still live there....
 - June 2006 |
"Do You Know…Jesse McBride" |
Who: Pianist Jesse McBride, 26, moved from Houston, Texas to New Orleans in 1998 to study with Ellis Marsalis at the University of New Orleans. Active on the jazz scene, McBride headed the group Harold Battiste Presents the Next Generation and performed with trumpeter Maurice Brown, vibist James Westfall and many others.
Where: Snug Harbor, June 1, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Why: While in New Orleans, McBride was the keeper of the flame of University of New Orleans professor/saxophonist Harold Battiste’s concept of keeping the music and the musicians of the “second generation of New Orleans jazz” alive by having young artists perform compositions of those who came before them.
Presently residing in New York, McBride has continued the quest at his weekly Jesse McBride Presents the Next Generation at Sweet Rhythm. Former UNO students such as Westfall and saxophonist John Ellis have also joined McBride at the club playing tunes such as Ellis Marsalis’ “Swinging at the Haven” and Battiste’s “Beautiful Old Ladies.”
“They were friends, that’s why the music sounds so personal,” says McBride of these compositions and others by such noted players as drummer James Black and saxophonist Nat Perrilliat. “And my band is like that too. I’m up here bring New Orleans to New York.”
The pianist, who has made several trips back to the city and hopes to return someday soon, explains that he often introduces a song with a little history about the it or the composer.
What you need to know: McBride, who comes from a family of musicians and educators, has been finishing his studies at UNO online and plans to walk down the aisle to receive his diploma on May 22. Recently, he has also been gigging with vocalist Carmen Lundy.
“He just saw a need,” says Battiste of McBride’s enthusiasm in jumping in to help him with the Next Generation concept and now extending it outside of the city and into the future. “His mama raised him good.”
At Snug Harbor fellow UNO grads drummer Dylan Hicks and bassist Peter Harris plus trumpeter Andrew Baham will join him.
Nov. 16, 2006 - NY1 'Video' Interview Part 2 (click on blue/yellow icon next to picture)
June 2006 - NYC24 Video Interview
March 28. 2006 - Interview on NPR
February 13, 2006 - NY1 'Video' Interview Part 1 (click on blue/yellow icon next to picture)
"The Next Generation" - Electronic Press Kit