Jazz bassist Christian McBride steps in front of the New Jersey Symphony at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank on Saturday, November 21, at 7:30 p.m., playing a concerto that the late keyboardist and composer George Duke wrote specifically for him. The program, built around Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, is the orchestra's Red Bank stop for the week and part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival.

Eric Jacobsen conducts. The orchestra's own horn player, Chris Komer, also takes a solo turn in a second piece by McBride.

What is on the program

The concert runs about one hour and 40 minutes and moves through four works:

  • Claude Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. The short orchestral piece opens the night.
  • George Duke, Dark Wood: Bass Concerto for Christian McBride. The orchestra describes it as McBride's solo debut with the New Jersey Symphony, on a concerto composed with his playing in mind.
  • Christian McBride, Fried Bacon. This is McBride's first work for symphony orchestra. He wrote it for Chris Komer, who premiered it in 2022, and Komer plays the horn part again here.
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances. The orchestra notes that it was the composer's final work, written while he lived in exile.

A jazz bassist in an orchestra hall

McBride is a jazz bassist and bandleader, and the program pairs his acoustic bass with a full orchestra rather than a small combo. That pairing is the reason the concert sits inside the James Moody Jazz Festival, which is named for the saxophonist who grew up in Newark. The same program plays twice at NJPAC in Newark that week, on Thursday, November 19, at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 22, at 2 p.m. Red Bank's Saturday night date is the only performance in Monmouth County.

Come early for the talk

Ticket holders can attend a free Classical Conversation at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the downbeat. The New Jersey Symphony says the pre-concert talks bring in orchestra musicians, guest artists and other people involved in the performance.

Tickets and getting there

Tickets are sold through the New Jersey Symphony's website and the Count Basie Center box office. The orchestra says groups of 10 or more save 20 percent on most concerts, and the date is also part of its Saturday Red Bank subscription series. Programs, artists and prices are subject to change, so check the event page before you go.

The Count Basie Center for the Arts is at 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank, a short walk from the Red Bank station on NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line. Drivers coming from the Garden State Parkway can use Exit 109 and follow Route 520 east into town, where the borough's municipal lots sit within a few blocks of the theater.

Sources