Christian McBride Voices Personal Essay

Jazz bassist Christian McBride will voice a personal essay for the NPR series This I Believe airing on NPR's newsmagazine All Things Considered, Monday, January 22. The theme: "The value of being cool." Taught to play bass by his father and uncle, McBride learned the art of being cool from his grandfather. "I believe it pays to be cool, " McBride says in the essay. "Most people in this day and age are always terribly stressed. They age quickly. Cool people stay young forever." Widely considered to be one of the best bassists of his generation, McBride has performed and recorded with jazz legends and pop and classical musicians alike, including Joe Henderson, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Sting, and Kathleen Battle. He lives in New York City.

Inspired by newsman Edward R. Murrow's 1950's radio program of the same name, This I Believe features Americans from all walks of life expressing their core beliefs and values in short, personal essays. With his essay, McBride joins an impressive list of essayists including Senator John McCain, skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, magician Penn Jillette, illusionist David Copperfield, Bill Gates and Colin Powell. In addition to hearing McBride's essay on the air, listeners will also be able to read the text and hear it online at www.npr.org/thisibelieve where the audio and transcripts of past This I Believe essays are archived.

All Things Considered is NPR's signature afternoon news magazine and reaches nearly 11 million listeners weekly on 625 NPR Member stations across the country. It also can be heard in more than 100 countries through NPR Worldwide.

The new rendition of This I Believe, launched in April 2005, has become a big hit with listeners and shows the public's renewed interest in discussing beliefs and values. In addition to prominent essayists, the series has now received nearly 15, 000 essays from listeners across the country. To date, every This I Believe essay has ranked among the top e-mailed stories on NPR.org. The series is a collaboration between NPR and This I Believe, Inc., Dan Gediman and Jay Allison, producers.

Find more Christian McBride music at amazon.com
Jazz from Amazon.com
Technorati Tags: Jazz, Smooth Jazz, Music