Baseball season is upon us, and you're sure to see plenty of two-base hits between now and the World Series. In our world, however, "two bass hits" (i.e., recordings) are quite rare. So, during Jazz Appreciation Month, we're all the more appreciative to chat with Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer, two of the world's greatest bassists, about their new album But Who's Gonna Play the Melody? Before you dig into our conversation here are a few facts. Christian and Edgar have been friends and colleagues for more than thirty years, but this is their first recording together. The album was released about three weeks ago and is already #1 on several charts. Its title was actually suggested by saxophonist Joshua Redman in a Facebook comment (proof that social media is good for something besides food pics and political posturing). And, if your ear is anything like mine, you'll find it difficult to tell who actually is playing the melody on any given tune. One thing is sure, though; whoever is playing what at any given time—they're swingin'!
Listen to our conversation, above.
Interview transcript:
Brian Delp: Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer, two of the finest bassists in the entire world, and also two of the finest musicians in the entire world, are here to talk about their brand new album, But Who's Going to Play the Melody? Who am I going to talk to first about this? Christian, do you want to take the lead here?
Christian McBride: Well, I feel like WBGO fans and listeners and supporters hear me all the time. They’re tired of hearing my voice. So why don't I let Edgar have this one?
Edgar, welcome to the WBGO Studios. This is the first time you and I have ever chatted. Now you're originally from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Of course, the first thing that pops into my mind is always the Manhattan Project. What was it like growing up next door to that?
Edgar Meyer: Better than you'd think, because essentially it's a community of scientists. And that's home base for me. I like the values of scientists. They love the arts. They love education. And, they like to find out what the truth is. So it's a very comfortable place for me. Also, because it's a made up place. It wasn't a thing until the 1940s. It doesn't actually have an upper class or a lower class or just very little. It's very broadly middle class. It's just all scientists. So I was in my 20s before I found out about rich and poor.
I think it'd be a very controlled environment, but you grew up playing music, because your father was the director of all of the string studies, I believe, in the Oak Ridge area.
Edgar Meyer: Yep. It was cool. I think there was a point where it'd be one in three of the kids was playing a string instrument or something. My father moved there because it was the best educational system in the state.
I've always been of the opinion, and this happened to me as well because I was a string player in school, that if you can learn how to play an instrument, if you can translate notes in your brain into your hands and make an instrument work, then pretty much you can learn anything. Christian, do you think that's the case?
Christian McBride: Well, you know I think that's the case. Edgar and I have a similar story because both of our fathers are bass players and we came up in school systems that really cared about the arts and it kept a lot of young kids in total discovery mode and keeping themselves busy and being able to express themselves through an instrument or some form of music. That's why I'm dedicated to jazz education now.
Now you've both taken different paths musically, Christian, of course, you have so many different bands and different projects. I can never keep up with all of them. I know you're playing at the Keystone Korner in Baltimore this coming week, and I’ve forgotten which band you're taking into the Keystone.
Christian McBride: It's a group of young, hot, incredible musicians that I've been touring with now for just over a year. We have an official name now. It's called Ursa Major. Eli Perelman is the guitarist. Nicole Glover plays tenor saxophone, although she won't be with us in Baltimore. I have Emilio Modeste playing tenor and soprano saxophone, who is just killing it. Mike King on piano and keyboards and Savannah Harris on drums
Edgar, do you have similar groups, where the majority of the musicians you're playing with are a lot younger than you?
Edgar Meyer: Yes, I got one coming in the fall where their ages add up to mine or something like that. I have some string trios I recorded that I didn't record, that I wrote in the 80s. Ws Christian born then?
Barely.
Edgar Meyer: These were some of my first professional endeavors and I'm very proud of them, but I've never really taken them out for a spin. I've got these younger people. They're not that young, but they're a lot younger than I am. Tessa Lark on violin and Joshua Roman on cello. I'm going to write a new piece for us. We're going to record the old ones too, and go out and tour them starting in the fall.
I just love the way that your individual styles meld so seamlessly on this new recording. I was just listening to several of the tracks this morning, because I knew I was going to be talking to you.
Edgar Meyer: Have you ever heard a style that didn't meld with Christian?
Actually, a good point, Edgar. Thank you very much. Absolutely not. And Christian, come on. I've seen you play and so many times. In fact, the last time I saw you play, you and I were in the middle of the Caribbean. And my wife and I were watching you play with not one, but two or three or four different basses on stage on the final Blue Note at Sea cruise, when you were playing with Marcus Miller and Corcoran Holt. That was a great gig, but you wouldn't think that if you could put a couple of basses on stage, wouldn't this get old after like 10 or 15 minutes, but it doesn't. It just builds and builds and builds and goes on and on and on. It’s the way that you two interact with each other. What I'm really curious about, after listening to three or four of the selections on the new album that's coming out, is who's playing the arco and who's playing the pizzicato? Or did you actually divide that between yourselves?
Christian McBride: If you can't tell that, then there's some inexperienced listeners because this man this with the bow…
I surmised that you're doing the pizzacata work Christian. And Edgar, you’re playing the arco.
Edgar Meyer: That's not true at all though.
Christian McBride: We're doing both things.
Edgar Meyer: That's surprises people, since the first notes of the record are me playing pizzicato and Christian playing arco. That's how the record starts and I'm perfectly pleased to say there are plenty of people who don't know which is which.
Christian McBride: Yeah, we like it that way.
Edgar Meyer: I certainly like it that way.
I do too. I'm really glad to hear this actually, because I was trying to peg it in my mind and that bit of mystery just makes it all the more intriguing.
Edgar Meyer: I've got a feeling that our engineer, Todd Whitelock, kept each of us on one side, so you can figure it out. I don't think he was trying to mix it up like any extra special to make it harder.
Is that left channel, right channel?
Edgar Meyer: Yes.
Is that going to be on the album cover?
Edgar Meyer: I don't know if it is. I haven't noticed it on the album cover, but Christian and I know each other and of course we know who's playing each note, but I totally understand if it's kind of confusing.
Where did the inspiration to do this project in the first place really come from. I know that Ray Brown introduced the two of you well over 30 years ago, and you finally were able to perform together in Aspen, where you're both resident artists. You were both able to perform together finally in 2007, but why after all this time did you decide, “Well, it's a good time to make a record”?
Edgar Meyer: That’s how long it took.
Is that right?
Christian McBride: Pretty much.
One of the first times I've actually heard you play piano. On “Lullaby for a Lady Bug,” which has always been one of my favorites of your compositions from one of my favorites of all of your albums, Sci Fi, who's playing piano and who's playing the arco bass?
Christian McBride: Have you ever heard me play the bass that high up that accurately?
Well, I didn't want to go there. I mean, come on. All right. Settled then. So, basically, you're taking a page out of Charles Mingus. You're sitting down, playing some beautiful chords on piano, and Edgar is playing the incredibly, technically proficient arco bass, right?
Christian McBride: My man is up there singing.
It's haunting. It's tender. It's beautiful. That's what I wanted to get across.
Edgar Meyer: It really is a lot to live up to with the original recording there.
I think that you do extremely well.
Christian McBride: Yes, he does.
On the other side of that coin, you got “Philly Slop” which I'm sure is inspired by your hometown.
Christian McBride: Absolutely. We paid homage to Tennessee by playing “Tennessee Blues. And so I thought, yeah, we got to get some Philly in there. That waltz seemed like a good, sloppy Philly kind of groove. Actually it’s not all that sloppy. It’s funky.
Christian, you've collaborated with so many wonderful musicians and true legends like James Brown and Ray Brown and Sting. How does it feel finally being able to collaborate with as fine a bassist as Edgar Meyer?
Christian McBride: It feels absolutely wonderful because I've been such an uber fan of Edgar since the first time Ray Brown introduced me to his music. No one on this planet plays the bass like him in so many different ways. It's a real privilege to stand next to him and play and learn from him. A couple of people who weren't aware that I was working with Edgar had said, “Christian, not that your arco playing was bad, but it's gotten really good.” I said, “Well, when you stand next to Edgar Meyer, that's like getting a private lesson.” I just keep my eye on him. I'm watching what he does. I just try my best to be worthy.
Edgar Meyer: If I could just copy and paste, I would take the exactly the same paragraph and say the same shit. I was trying to get Christian to give me lessons 20 years ago. And this is the only way I've been able to get him.
That reminds me of the story of The Far Side cartoonist Gary Larson and what fee he exacted for doing one of Jim Hall's album covers? A guitar lesson.
Edgar Meyer: Gentlemen, I have listened back to a lot of rehearsals and concerts and things we've done, and I've got a bunch of moves I didn't have 15 years ago.
Well, that's very interesting. Do you think that's going to translate into your future projects as well?
Edgar Meyer: Of course.
Christian McBride: I can't wait to see how this develops. Like, what are Edgar and I going to sound like 10 years from now?
Absolutely. I'll be looking forward to that.
Edgar Meyer: I’ll be 73. I think we're talking ballads.
I'm only a couple of years younger than you, Edgar. That suits me.
Edgar Meyer: I'm enjoying trying to keep the range up while I still can.
That's what it's all about. You're actually releasing it on light blue vinyl on Record Store Day on April 20. Edgar, you and I, we grew up with vinyl. Christian, I'm pretty sure you grew up with vinyl as well.
Christian McBride: Of course. I ain’t no child.
Do you see the next generation really starting to embrace vinyl again?
Christian McBride: Since 2016, vinyl is the medium in which people seem to be listening to music again. Thank goodness.
Edgar Meyer: I remember going to college and taking all my favorite records and having a little record player in my dorm room. That was institutional memory. That was continuity. That was my identity.
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
