Cecil McBee

Updated on Oct 29, 2023

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Genres Jazz Occupation(s) Musician		Instruments Double bass Name Cecil McBee

Born May 19, 1935 (age 88) ( 1935-05-19 ) Origin Tulsa, OK, United States Associated acts Dinah Washington, Paul Winter, Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Yusef Lateef, Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Alice Coltrane

All about cecil mcbee

Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist, one of the most influential in the history of jazz. McBee has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums.

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Early life and career

McBee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 19, 1935. He studied clarinet at school, but switched to bass at the age of 17, and began playing in local nightclubs. After gaining a music degree from Ohio Central State University, he spent two years in the army, during which time he conducted the band at Fort Knox. In 1959 he played with Dinah Washington, and in 1962 he moved to Detroit, where he worked with Paul Winter's folk-rock ensemble in 1963–64.

New York

His jazz career began to take off in the mid-1960s, after he moved to New York, when he began playing and recording with a number of significant musicians including Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean (1964), Wayne Shorter (1965–66), Charles Lloyd (1966), Yusef Lateef (1967–69), Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw (1986), and Alice Coltrane (1969–72).

Later career

In the 2000s, McBee unsuccessfully sued a Japanese company that opened a chain of stores under his name.

He was an artist in residence at Harvard from 2010 to 2011. He teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

Awards

1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Grammys

Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane (MCA, 1987), Pharoah Sanders/David Murray/McCoy Tyner/Cecil McBee/Roy Haynes – Winner, Best instrumental performance, individual or group, Grammy Awards, 1988.

As leader

1975: Mutima (Strata-East)

1977: Music from the Source (Enja)

1977: Compassion (Enja)

1979: Alternate Spaces (India Navigation)

1982: Flying Out (India Navigation)

1986: Roots of Blue (RPR) – duets with Muhal Richard Abrams

1997: Unspoken (Palmetto)

As sideman

With the Ray Anderson

Old Bottles New Wine (1985)

With Chet Baker

Blues for a Reason (Criss Cross Jazz, 1985)

With Bill Barron

Live at Cobi's 2 (SteepleChase, 1885 [2006])

With Kenny Barron

Landscape (Baystate, 1984)

What If? (Enja, 1986)

Live at Fat Tuesdays (Enja, 1988)

With the Bob Thiele Collective

Sunrise Sunset (Red Baron, 1990)

With Joanne Brackeen

Snooze (Choice, 1975)

Tring-a-Ling (Choice, 1977)

Havin' Fun (Concord Jazz, 1985)

Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven (Concord Jazz, 1986)

Turnaround (Evidence, 1992)

With Dollar Brand

African Space Program (Enja, 1973)

With Anthony Braxton

Eight (+3) Tristano Compositions, 1989: For Warne Marsh (hatArt, 1989)

With Roy Brooks

The Free Slave (Muse, 1970 [1972])

With Joe Chambers

The Almoravid (Muse, 1974)

With Alice Coltrane

Journey in Satchidananda (Impulse!, 1970)

With Junior Cook

Pressure Cooker (Catalyst, 1977)

With Stanley Cowell

Equipoise (Galaxy, 1979)

Close to You Alone (DIW, 1990)

With Ted Curson

Blue Piccolo (Whynot, 1976)

With Chico Freeman

Morning Prayer (India Navigation, 1976)

Chico (India Navigation, 1977)

The Outside Within (India Navigation, 1978)

Kings of Mali (India Navigation, 1978)

Spirit Sensitive (India Navigation, 1979)

Destiny's Dance (Contemporary, 1981)

With Hal Galper

Now Hear This (Enja, 1977)

With Johnny Griffin

Birds and Ballads (1978)

With Louis Hayes

Variety Is the Spice (Gryphon, 1978)

With Andrew Hill

Compulsion! (Blue Note, 1965)

With Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw

Double Take (Blue Note, 1986)

With Elvin Jones

Power Trio (Novus, 1990) – with John Hicks

When I Was at Aso-Mountain (Enja, 1990)

Elvin Jones Jazz Machine (Trio, 1997)

It Don't Mean a Thing (Enja, 1993)

With Clifford Jordan

Two Tenor Winner (Criss Cross, 1984)

With John Klemmer

Magic and Movement (Impulse!, 1974)

With Prince Lasha

Inside Story (Enja, 1965 [1981])

With Yusef Lateef

The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1967)

The Blue Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1968)

Yusef Lateef's Detroit (Atlantic, 1969)

The Diverse Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1970)

With The Leaders

Mudfoot (Black Hawk, 1986)

Out Here Like This (Black Saint, 1987)

Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint, 1988)

Heaven Dance (Sunnyside, 1988) – The Leaders Trio with pianist Kirk Lightsey and drummer Don Moye

Spirits Alike (Double Moon, 2007)

With Dave Liebman

The Seasons (Soul Note, 1992)

John Coltrane's Meditations (Arkadia Jazz, 1998)

With Charles Lloyd

Dream Weaver (1966, Atlantic)

Forest Flower (1966, Atlantic)

The Flowering (1966, Atlantic)

Charles Lloyd in Europe (1966, Atlantic)

With Raphe Malik

Storyline (Boxholder, 1999) – with Cody Moffett

With Jackie McLean

It's Time! (Blue Note, 1964)

Action Action Action (Blue Note, 1964)

With Lloyd McNeill

Treasures (1976)

With Charles McPherson

New Horizons (Xanadu, 1977)

With Grachan Moncur III

Some Other Stuff (Blue Note, 1964)

With Tisziji Munoz

Visiting This Planet (Anami Music, 1980's)

Presence of Joy (Anami Music, 1999)

Divine Radiance (Anami Music, 2003)

With Amina Claudine Myers

Salutes Bessie Smith (Leo, 1980)

With Almanac

Almanac (Improvising Artists, 1967)

With Art Pepper

Winter Moon (Galaxy, 1980)

With Dannie Richmond

"In" Jazz for the Culture Set (Impulse!, 1965)

With Sam Rivers

Dimensions & Extensions (Blue Note, 1967)

Streams (Impulse!, 1973)

Hues (Impulse!, 1973)

With Buddy Tate and Dollar Brand

Buddy Tate Meets Dollar Brand (Chiaroscuro, 1977)

With Pharoah Sanders

Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (Strata-East, 1969 [1973])

Jewels of Thought (Impulse!, 1969)

Thembi (Impulse!, 1970)

Black Unity (Impulse!, 1971)

Live at the East (Impulse!, 1972)

Village of the Pharoahs (Impulse!, 1973)

Love in Us All (Impulse!, 1973)

With Saxophone Summit

Gathering of Spirits (Telarch, 2004)

With Zbigniew Seifert

Man of the Light (Promising Music, 2010)

With Woody Shaw

The Moontrane (Muse, 1974)

Love Dance (Muse, 1975)

The Iron Men with Anthony Braxton (Muse, 1977 [1980])

With Archie Shepp

Lady Bird (Denon, 1978)

With Wayne Shorter

Et Cetera (Blue Note, 1965)

Odyssey of Iska (Blue Note, 1970)

With Sonny Simmons

Burning Spirits (Contemporary, 1971)

With Lonnie Liston Smith

Expansions (1974)

With Leon Thomas

Spirits Known and Unknown (1969)

With Horace Tapscott

The Dark Tree, Vol. 1 & 2 (hatOLOGY, 1989)

With Charles Tolliver

Live at Slugs', Volume I & II (Strata-East, 1970)

Music Inc. (Strata-East, 1971)

Impact (Strata-East, 1975)

With Mickey Tucker

Sojourn (Xanadu, 1977)

Mister Mysterious (Muse, 1978)

With McCoy Tyner

Quartets 4 X 4 (Milestone, 1980)

Blues for Coltrane (1987)

With James "Blood" Ulmer

Revealing (1977)

With Mal Waldron

What It Is (Enja, 1981)

With Michael White

The Land of Spirit and Light (Impulse!, 1973)

With Paul Winter

Jazz Meets the Folk-Song (1963)

With Yōsuke Yamashita

Sakura (Verve, 1990)

Kurdish Dance (Verve, 1993)

Dazzling Days (Verve, 1993)

Fragments 1999 (Verve, 1999)

Spider (Verve, 1996)

Delightful Contrast (Universal, 2011)

References

Cecil McBee Wikipedia

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