Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Episode 91 | Christian McBride.
Nine-time GRAMMY winner Christian McBride is one of the most influential jazz artists in the game. His collaborations span icons like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, James Brown, and Sting. He’s the leader of multiple acclaimed bands including the Christian McBride Big Band, Inside Straight, and New Jawn. He also serves as the host of NPR’s Jazz Night in America and was the Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival for a decade. His story is incredible, and we’re setting the stage here with Part 1, The Early Years.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Christian was surrounded by greatness. His high school classmates included Questlove, Black Thought, Joey DeFrancesco, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, just to name a few. In this episode, we talk about those formative years, the Philly music scene, and how he broke into the spotlight with Wynton Marsalis and Freddie Hubbard, along with the wild story of his rare opportunity to play for Miles Davis.
We also get into his professional mentality, early lessons on leadership, and what it took to earn respect from legends while still a teenager. Christian is an amazing storyteller, and this conversation is full of history, heart, and laughs.
We had the best time recording this one, so I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Let's go!
Special thanks to Apogee Electronics. We used their Apogee HypeMic and Podcast Kit in this episode and they sounded great. Check it out!
Apogee HypeMic & Podcast Kit: https://hubs.li/Q03zczhb0
‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.
00:00 - TRAILER
01:23 - INTRODUCING CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
02:40 - INTERVIEW STARTS
03:30 - TERRACE MARTIN, COLLAB
06:46 - THE PHILLY SCENE
10:02 - MEETING JOEY DEFRANCESCO
11:42 - CAPA (PHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS)
14:54 - MILES DAVIS
20:29 - JOEY DEFRANCESCO GETTING THE GIG WITH MILES DAVIS, TOURING IN HIGH SCHOOL
22:34 - QUESTLOVE, BLACK THOUGHT, BOYZ II MEN, JOEY
26:27 - JUILLIARD, WYNTON MARSALIS, PLAYING BASS, JAZZ
34:41 - ROY HARGROVE
35:59 - NEW YORK SCENE IN THE 90’S, BOBBY WATSON, BETTY CARTER
40:10 - LESSONS LEARNED FROM JAZZ LEGENDS
42:17 - HARSH SELF CRITICISM
50:43 - CHICK COREA
Please SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW this podcast to catch new episodes as soon as they drop! Your likes, comments and shares are much appreciated!
patreon.com/gowithelmo Become a Patreon Member to stay in the loop as we post Patreon-only exclusive content, Zoom hangs, invite only events, and discussions about music and music careers.
Listen to the audio form of this podcast wherever you get your podcasts: elmolovano.komi.io
Follow Christian:
instagram.com/chrmcbride
Follow Go With Elmo:
instagram.com/gowithelmo
tiktok.com/@gowithelmo
https://x.com/gowithelmopod
Follow Elmo Lovano:
Instagram.com/elmolovano
https://x.com/elmolovano
Follow Jammcard:
youtube.com/@jammcard
jammcard.com
Episode 91 | Christian McBride.
Nine-time GRAMMY winner Christian McBride is one of the most influential jazz artists in the game. His collaborations span icons like Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, James Brown, and Sting. He’s the leader of multiple acclaimed bands including the Christian McBride Big Band, Inside Straight, and New Jawn. He also serves as the host of NPR’s Jazz Night in America and was the Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival for a decade. His story is incredible, and we’re setting the stage here with Part 1, The Early Years.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Christian was surrounded by greatness. His high school classmates included Questlove, Black Thought, Joey DeFrancesco, and Kurt Rosenwinkel, just to name a few. In this episode, we talk about those formative years, the Philly music scene, and how he broke into the spotlight with Wynton Marsalis and Freddie Hubbard, along with the wild story of his rare opportunity to play for Miles Davis.
We also get into his professional mentality, early lessons on leadership, and what it took to earn respect from legends while still a teenager. Christian is an amazing storyteller, and this conversation is full of history, heart, and laughs.
We had the best time recording this one, so I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Let's go!
Special thanks to Apogee Electronics. We used their Apogee HypeMic and Podcast Kit in this episode and they sounded great. Check it out!
Apogee HypeMic & Podcast Kit: https://hubs.li/Q03zczhb0
‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.
00:00 - TRAILER
01:23 - INTRODUCING CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
02:40 - INTERVIEW STARTS
03:30 - TERRACE MARTIN, COLLAB
06:46 - THE PHILLY SCENE
10:02 - MEETING JOEY DEFRANCESCO
11:42 - CAPA (PHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS)
14:54 - MILES DAVIS
20:29 - JOEY DEFRANCESCO GETTING THE GIG WITH MILES DAVIS, TOURING IN HIGH SCHOOL
22:34 - QUESTLOVE, BLACK THOUGHT, BOYZ II MEN, JOEY
26:27 - JUILLIARD, WYNTON MARSALIS, PLAYING BASS, JAZZ
34:41 - ROY HARGROVE
35:59 - NEW YORK SCENE IN THE 90’S, BOBBY WATSON, BETTY CARTER
40:10 - LESSONS LEARNED FROM JAZZ LEGENDS
42:17 - HARSH SELF CRITICISM
50:43 - CHICK COREA
Please SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW this podcast to catch new episodes as soon as they drop! Your likes, comments and shares are much appreciated!
patreon.com/gowithelmo Become a Patreon Member to stay in the loop as we post Patreon-only exclusive content, Zoom hangs, invite only events, and discussions about music and music careers.
Listen to the audio form of this podcast wherever you get your podcasts: elmolovano.komi.io
Follow Christian:
instagram.com/chrmcbride
Follow Go With Elmo:
instagram.com/gowithelmo
tiktok.com/@gowithelmo
https://x.com/gowithelmopod
Follow Elmo Lovano:
Instagram.com/elmolovano
https://x.com/elmolovano
Follow Jammcard:
youtube.com/@jammcard
jammcard.com
