CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE AND URSA MAJOR AT SPA LITTLE THEATER, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24

Christian McBride set his bass behind his new Ursa Major band at the Spa Little Theater Thursday, but his massive sound, skill and spirit filled it in the first show of SPAC’s new McCormack Jazz Series.

Christian McBride, center, and Ursa Major, from left: Michael King, piano and keyboards; Nicole Glover, tenor saxophone; Ely Perlman, guitar; and Savannah Harris, drums

He introduced his young new (since 2022) bandmates as stars; that’s how they played. 

McBride introduces saxophonist Nicole Glover

McBride recalled first playing Saratoga at 18 on SPAC’s former “Gazebo Stage” with saxophonist Jesse Davis; and he’s returned often as bandleader and sideman. Thursday was very much his show as amiable host, hot soloist and indispensable bold beat master.

The modernist abstract “Theme for Malcolm” started a bit tentatively but gathered strength in solos from guitarist Ely Perlman, saxophonist Nicole Glover and keyboardist Michael King, with McBride and drummer Savannah Harris hot from the start. McBride later touted his musical bond with Harris as the “heart-beat, the motor” of the band, and their power carried everything.

Ely Perlman and Savannah Harris

Michael King

King’s “S’Mo, street for “some more,” cruised on a accessible, straight-ahead, mellow- groove energy. The audience applauded solos even before they ended while Glover and Perlman played crisp harmony lines (different notes, same place). McBride slowed the tempo in a cozy trio section before the frontline joined to bring it home, breezy and blithe.

Noting he’d left his shoes at the hotel but assuring feet and socks were clean, McBride intro’ed Perlman’s “Elevation.” This notably pristine impressionistic number grew from soft, echoey guitar by its composer into a gently pulsating ride. Perlman played with reverb like bouncing off the moon, King damped his piano strings and Harris worked cymbals before tossing the spotlight to McBride with a snare riff. McBride led the band back toward the head via a pause for Harris to take her first real break of the night. 

Nicole Glover and Christian McBride

Just as Perlman started “Elevation” alone, McBride mapped out Chick Corea’s spritely “La Fiesta” with bass fireworks for five dazzling minutes before Harris and King romped and stomped in; then the front line hit in tight harmony riffing. Wild, free solos flew far, all cheerful zip that settled into a recap with another Harris explosion.

Next up, Harris’s tune “More Is,” its title and mellow glide like cousins to King’s earlier “S’Mo.” Harriet set a march-beat pushed hard by McBride’s shift from double-bass (acoustic) to five-string electric, twin motor of a big wave. King started on synthesizer but shifted to a mellower Rhodes sound as Glover and Perlman harmonized beautifully before Perlman hit a solo hot-spot. 

Savannah Harris

McBride stayed with the electric bass and King with the Rhodes in McBride’s driving closer “Brouhaha.” This was wide-grin, go-for it funk. Perlman unleashed his inner Cory Wong in blistering chord chops with John Mayer-worthy grimaces. Everybody dug deep in the roiling beat, a smash finish. Like everything before, this felt deliciously unanimous. Glover swapped her customary fluent scales for crisp, staccato licks, clipped and propulsive.

Nicole Glover

McBride, Harris and King settled into an overdrive trio section before nod-cueing the front line to jump on a repeating, road-running downhill riff – as fast and fun as the Wootens in full funk at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall two weeks ago. 

Arguably today’s top bassists, McBride and Victor Wooten show what mighty music happens when big talents push great bands from the bottom. After Chick Corea’s “La Fiesta,” McBride had proclaimed “We still feel Chick’s spirit” in his song; we felt McBride’s Thursday.

When McBride peered out into the sold-out house to thank series inspiration Don McCormack, the Saratoga jazz super-fan stayed seated in the dark, modestly letting the music do the talking.

The six-song show spanned 95 minutes without an encore versus the 75 stated in the program; everything stretched generously.

McBride called this series the “off-season,” like Proctors Passport series, which curator Mona Golub calls “between the summers.” Both these and A Place for Jazz welcome off-season fans into inviting spaces: the Spa Little Theater, the Proctors GE Theater/Universal Preservation Hall and the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium at SUNY Schenectady’s Music School, respectively.

The McCormack Jazz Series at the Spa Little Theater:

November 22: Dorado Schmitt and Sons: Django Festival All-Stars, and Hot Club of Saratoga

April 5, 2025: Alfredo Rodriguez Trio

May 1, 2025: Veronica Swift

And A Place for Jazz wraps its season Friday, Nov. 1 with trumpeter-singer Bria Skonberg’s Quintet.