Christian McBride and Ursa Major

Christian McBride’s 2026 started with a flourish. In February, he picked up his tenth and eleventh Grammy Awards, with the honors coming in a manner that neatly illustrates the scope of McBride’s career as a bassist, bandleader, and composer. There was the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album award that went to the Christian McBride Big Band’s Without Further Ado, Vol 1. And there was his piece of the Best Jazz Performance award for “Windows (Live)” one of many remarkable tracks on the album Trilogy 3, a release drawn from piano legend Chick Corea’s final trio tour. McBride also shares with the late Corea and drummer Brian Blade a pair of Best Instrumental Jazz Album Grammys for Trilogy and Trilogy 2.

McBride’s career Grammy wins are split between his work as a bandleader/composer and his work as a sideman. And that only makes sense. McBride, who started playing professionally at age seventeen, has spent thirty-seven years moving fluidly between the roles of bandleader and band member. He’s released nineteen albums as a leader, been part of six collaborative albums, and appeared as a sideman on more than 400 releases. And because that somehow hasn’t kept him busy enough, McBride also served as artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival from 2015 to 2025, hosts NPR’s Jazz Night In America, and works alongside his wife, Melissa Walker, as a jazz educator.

Ursa Major ties many of the threads of McBride’s career together. Formed in 2022, the band places McBride in the company of four rising star musicians. And though firmly grounded in jazz, the band’s music works in elements of R&B, soul, funk, and disco. This is McBride picking up where the late Corea left off, reimagining jazz fusion and in bringing together and mentoring extraordinarily talented, innovative musicians whose futures as players and bandleaders are wide open. Best of all, when this ensemble takes the stage, it plays with a combination of energy and mastery that is as joyful as it is jaw-dropping.