For the third time, 11-time Grammy Award-winning bassist, arranger and bandleader Christian McBride joined WBGO's nationally-recognized podcast SportsJam with Doug Doyle to talk about his passion for sports and music.
McBride was also a SportsJam guest in 2023 and 2014. The acclaimed musician is always a champion of his beloved Philadelphia sports teams, especially the Sixers and the Eagles.
Christian and his wife Melissa Walker (singer and President and CEO of Jazz House Kids) always hold a Super Bowl party. But unfortunately when the Eagles were blowing out the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in last year's big game, Christian wasn't at home to enjoy all the fun.
"I'm thinking how cruel is it that you're home in Montclair having a Super Bowl party while my Eagles are playing, and I'm in Los Angeles sitting at some bar with my manager Alex (Kadvan). But I'll tell you it was such a great feeling to watch them and it wasn't even that close."
During this episode, McBride talks about some of his favorite players of all-time, including the late Sixers forward Darryl Dawkins. "Chocolate Thunder" was known for shattering backboards in the NBA.
"I had a Darryl Dawkins poster as a kid. I had it right over my bed and I used to look it that every single night. I only played one organized sport when I was a kid and that was basketball. I was on the White Rock Summer Camp basketball team. There were like you look like a good 4 or 5, come and be on the team. I told them I'm not really that good at basketball. Back then there wasn't even defensive 3 seconds rule, so you could just wait in the paint. They said anybody comes into the paint, give them an elbow, give them a hip and don't let them score. I said okay I'm good at that. I'm good at football, so if anyone wants to come down the lane I'll get 'em. I was like the enforcer. They gave me #53 because of Darryl Dawkins. That was my man. He was a huge Philly legend."
Recently, Christian McBride got to check off one of the items on his bucket list, meeting Dr. J. (Julius Erving).
"He is just so classy, so elegant, so sophisticated, so cool. The ultimate legend and still a great ambassador. Watching him on the sidelines during the Al-Star, sitting with the Obamas, it was beautiful to see that the Obamas were much more in awe of him than the other way around. I know the awe was pretty great from Julius' standpoint as well but they knew would they were sitting with."
Christian's music idol, legendary singer James Brown, just happened to be part of one of the greatest sports movie runs. Brown stole the show in Rocky IV with his pre-fight "Apollo Creed" performance of "Living In America".
"I was a big Rocky fan. I probably exited the Rocky train after that one. That was Rocky IV. After that I was just so deep into learning about the music and trying to get better as a musician, I was into my bass after that."
McBride has become one of the best bassists in the world. At the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2026, he won two awards, bringing his total career wins to 11. He won for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (with the Christian McBride Big Band) and Best Jazz Performance for "Windows (Live)" with the late Chick Corea and Brian Blade.
Although he doesn't get to play with his Big Band that often, he knows how to make magic happen with that group. He compares it to being the coach of a winning team.
"it's part coach and dare I say political leader. In any big band, you have somebody who oversees the entire operation but then there's a section and there's a leader of that section. Even though I'm the bandleader, Steve Wilson leads the saxophone section, Michael Dease leads the trombone section, Frank Greene leads the trumpet section. Now when it comes to the real sort of specifics of what they do in that section, I stay out of that. I trust my leaders."
That trust worked beautifully on Without Further Ado, Vol 1. You can hear my interview with Christian McBride about that release here.
You can SEE my entire 2026 SportsJam interview with Christian McBride below:
