There's a great article in Bass Player magazine about Christian McBride -- in
fact he's on the cover in his Phillies uniform! -- and there is a good
section of the interview about Sting. Here's a taste:
Q: Let's talk about your role with Sting. How did that come about?
A: My guess is he heard me on Chris Botti's Night Sessions, because everyone
on that disc -- Kipper, Dominic Miller, Manu Katche and Chris -- is in
Sting's band. They knew Sting wanted acoustic bass on his CD All This Time,
so they recommended me. I knew a few Police songs, and I covered "Walking on
the Moon"... but I wasn't totally familiar with his work -- so I got a Police
box set and all of his solo records, and I did a crash course before flying
to Tuscany for two weeks of rehearsing. The All This Time DVD includes my
first gig with the band, so I had all my chord charts and cheat sheets
onstage.
It goes on to talk about how involved Sting was in coaching him and reports
that Sting appears on McBride's next album, Vertical Vision. He says of
Sting, "He has a real hunger for knowledge and tremendous respect for all
music, which to me is why he's one of the greatest musicians of any
generation."
This is the April 2003 issue of Bass Player magazine.
Holly
