Christian McBride
Appearances
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
And, you know, he would slap me on the arm and say, hey, listen to what Coltrane is about to do. And he pointed at the record, ooh, you hear that? And so it was so entertaining watching my great-uncle listen to jazz. I said, well, if jazz makes him that cool, then I want to be cool, too. So that one visit with my great-uncle.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
I actually have a new group since the new John. Oh, I'm sorry. So the new John is the old John.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
It's a person, place, or thing. You know, Joyelle could have a new partner or whatever. Hey, you seen Joyelle's new John? I knew Joy. Really? You know?
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Well, see, Jon has different versions regionally. Like in New York, it's joint. Right. Someone said in Memphis, this is funny, they said it's junt. Yeah. Junt? It's junt, yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, I don't know what it is on the West Coast. Yeah, who cares? Who cares? Yeah, exactly. Right.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Oh, man. I was afraid. Really? You anticipated that? I was hoping it would be baseball and not bass. Oh, boy.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
No. They're one of the best stores in the world.
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WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Yeah, well, considering this is America, I would go with B. Right, meaning this is the place where people just go in there and take that fish.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
That's right.
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WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Well, I know the arena where the Grizzlies play is actually called the pyramid, right? I'm going to go with C. Yeah, it is.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Well, I already got two out of three. You did, man. Yeah.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Well, I always say being a famous jazz bass player is being like a famous plumber. Because I might not get invited to the party, but you need me. LAUGHTER
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
No. I wanted to play with James Brown. Really? That was your thing? Yes. Which I'm very happy to say I eventually did, but I grew up as an R&B kid.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
It's complicated. It's complicated.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
We heard that he used to levy fines on his band members if he screwed up. But that was standard practice for a lot of band leaders in the 40s and 50s. You know, Ray Charles did that. Lionel Hampton did that. Benny Goodman did that. That was part of the gig, you know, like if you screwed up. $10 coming out of your pay at the end of the night.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
Now, of course, James Brown kept that practice going long after everybody stopped doing it.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
When I first started playing the double bass when I got to middle school, because I'd been playing the electric bass for a couple of years, my great uncle Howard, who's the other bass player in the family, he was so excited. He said, come over to my house, I got something for you. And now that he found out that I was playing the double bass, he said, hey, I'm going to turn you on to the cats.
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
WWDTM: Eric Idle, Bridget Everett + Jeff Hiller, and more!
So he spent the whole day playing nothing but jazz albums for me. And my great uncle had this very cool way of, you know, he would put a record on and he had a chair similar to this. He would sit down, he would sit way down like this. He'd light up a cigarette, have a glass of wine, and he would start playing air bass along with the record.