Better, McBride suggests, to consult the liner notes to Trilogy, the album that the Chick Corea Trio assembled from live recordings of their performances on tours of the United States in 2010 and Europe in 2012.
“We tend to stick with things we’ve recorded,” McBride, a four-time Grammy winner, said last week during a telephone interview from upstate New York. “We’ve done three CDs (in Trilogy). That’s a lot of music.”
And a lot of music history: The album swings from the likes of Irving Berlin’s How Deep is the Ocean? and Thelonious Monk’s Blue Monk to Corea’s Fingerprints and Armando’s Rhumba.
“Before we go on stage, Chick will figure out the first tune,” McBride said. “After that, we kind of wing it. We might have a quick huddle and then pick something.”
McBride, who’d left classical studies at Juilliard to tour with performers ranging from saxophonist Bobby Watson and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard to guitarist Pat Metheny, encountered Corea’s way of touring in 1996.
“I’d first met Chick at the old Mount Fuji Jazz Festival in Japan in 1991, when I was playing with Bennie Green,” McBride recalled. “We struck up a friendship and kept in touch. … That’s the surreal part of all this. Even after knowing Chick for 25 years now, and as many miles as we’ve logged on the road, I guess you could say we are friends. It’s still difficult to fathom that, getting to play with guys like this who are my heroes.”
McBride figures that along the way he learned some lessons that Juilliard couldn’t teach him, which he finds himself sharing, spoken and unspoken, with younger members of his Christian McBride Band, his Inside Straight quintet and the Christian McBride Big Band.
“It’s supposed to be a circle that’s unbroken,” McBride said. “Miles Davis learned from Billy Eckstine and Chick learned from Miles. It’s time for me to show somebody else.”
For now, McBride is focusing on enjoying the homestretch of a Chick Corea Trio ride that will land at the Newport (R.I.) Jazz Festival and at then Tanglewood in August.
“Wherever we end a tour,” McBride concluded, “we’re going to miss each other.”
Jazz pianist Chick Corea leads bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade onto the stage of Dartmouth College’s Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover tonight at 8. For tickets ($25 to $52) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Northern Stage’s Summer Musical Theater Intensive Company and students from Tuck’s Rock Dojo join forces this weekend for five performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock at the Barrette Center for the Arts in downtown White River Junction. Lloyd Webber granted permission to Northern Stage and a few other educational programs around the country to stage his current Broadway hit, which he and Downton Abbey writer and producer Julian Fellowes adapted from the 2003 movie starring Jack Black.
Following a preview show tonight at 7:30, performances are scheduled for Friday night at 7:30, Saturday afternoon at 2, Saturday night at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 5. For tickets ($15 to $25) and more information, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
∎ Without apology, the Yankee Brass Band aims “to set music back 150 years,” bandmaster Paul Maybery said near the end of the ensemble’s concert in Hanover earlier this week. On Friday night at 6:30 in the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts, you can see and hear how they play instruments of the mid- and late-1800s to evoke that era’s music, from marches and hymns to waltzes and Italian opera.
The band’s Upper Valley delegation includes Stephen Langley of White River Junction on cornet, Mary Gasiorowski of Grafton on alto horn, Larry Jones of Windsor on E-flat bass horn, Steve Gasiorowski on B-flat bass horn, Jeff Johnson of Claremont and Andy Buchan of Charlestown on drums and Tim Cohen on timpani. Admission is free.
Performing as the folk trio Low Lily, former Annalivia singers and string players Liz Simmons and Flynn Cohen join fiddler Lissa Schneckenberger for a Sunapee Community Coffeehouse Summer Series concert at the Sunapee Livery Building in Sunapee Harbor on Friday night at 7. Doors open at 6:30. The suggested donation is $15.
For the sixth annual Fest for Wes benefiting the Westley Crawford Memorial Fund, bands converging on 290 Jenneville Road in Windsor on Saturday includes Windsor’s Maiden Voyage and Moxley Union, Hartland’s Coquette, Hartford’s Bill Musson Band, Grafton-based Jester Jigs, and Mister Burns of Burlington’s The Lynguistic Civilians. Proceeds go toward the annual scholarship of $500 that the fund gives every year to a graduating senior at Hartford High School, Crawford’s alma mater. Gates open at 2 p.m. For advance tickets ($15) visit festforwesvt.com or the Windsor Station restaurant in downtown Windsor.
Tuesday afternoon at 3 at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, performers from BarnArts Summer Youth Theater’s 2016 troupe give a sneak preview of scenes from their upcoming staging of Alice In Wonderland Jr. Admission is free. Full performances of the musical will take place Aug. 5, 6 and 7 at Barnard Town Hall. For more information, visit BarnArts.org.
Playing more than 30 instruments, the Four Shillings Short duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin performs traditional and original music from Celtic lands, medieval and Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas on Sunday afternoon at 4 at Dartmouth College’s Faulkner Recital Hall in Hanover. Admission is free. To learn more about the ensemble, visit 4shillingsshort.com.
The Quebecois roots ensemble De Temps Antan, composed of three veterans of the Acadian ensemble La Bottine Souriante, will play a free concert on the green in Hanover next Thursday night starting at 5:30. For an hour before the show, the band will set the rhythm for a demonstration of Quebecois dance overseen by Revels North artistic director Nils Fredlund.
The New London Barn Playhouse kicks off a one-week staging of The 39 Steps, Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of the John Buchan mystery novel and the Alfred Hitchcock movie, with performances on Wednesday afternoon at 2 and Wednesday night at 7:30. For tickets ($20 to $29) and more information visit nlbarn.org or call 603-526-6710.
Opera North opens its 2016 season on Friday night with the first of seven performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita at Lebanon Opera House. This and the stagings on Tuesday night and next Thursday night all start at 7:30. For tickets and more information about the other operas the company will perform this summer, visit operanorth.org.
Vermont Pride Theater completes its sixth annual Summer Pride Festival of plays at the Chandler Music Hall this weekend, starting Friday night at 7:30 with a performance of Marilynn Barner Anselmi’s Mama’s Girls. On Saturday night at 7:30, a cast of four takes on David Valdes Greenwood’s comedy Raggedy And. The festival concludes Sunday night at 7:30 with performance artist Nelson Rodriguez presenting Guillermo Reyes’ Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown. Admission costs $12 to $17 in advance and $15 to $20 at the door. To order advance tickets and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Singer-guitarist David Greenfield spans decades and genres while serenading the Lebanon Farmers Market on Colburn Park this afternoon between 4 and 7.
Portland, Maine’s Starcrossed Losers perform their mix of alternative folk-rock during the Feast and Field Farmers’ Market in Barnard tonight from 5:30 to 7:30.
Rhythm Method plays funk, soul and rhythm-and-blues at Colburn Park in Lebanon tonight at 7.
The Moonlighters perform big-band classics on the Mary Haddad Memorial Bandstand in New London on Friday night at 6:30.
As a benefit for its community recreation program at Ascutney Trails in Brownsville, Ascutney Outdoors hosts the Brownstock Music Festival at the former Ascutney Mountain Resort on Saturday from noon to 8. Performers include Enfield singer-songwriters Brooks and Gary Hubbard, Wherehouse guitarist Jason Cann and the Sullivan Davis Hanscom Band. Admission is $15 for ages 15 and up. Campsites are available on Friday and Saturday nights. For more information, email brownstockvt@gmail.com or search for it on Facebook.
Singer-songwriter Maia Sharp plays an acoustic set at Pierce’s Inn in Etna on Saturday night at 8. For tickets ($40) and more information, visit piercesinn.com.
The Riverboat Stompers perform New Orleans-style jazz in the Little Studio at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish on Sunday afternoon at 2, as part of the site’s Discover Your Park Family Picnic Day. Admission is included in the $7 fee to enter the historic site.
Rusted Chrome performs a set of country and classic rock on the Newport Town Common on Sunday night at 6.
The Upper Valley Community Band channels the big bands at Colburn Park in Lebanon on Monday night at 7.
Gerry Grimo leads the East Bay Jazz Ensemble onto the Ben Mere Bandstand overlooking Sunapee Harbor on Wednesday night at 6:30.
John Lackard plays the blues at Lyman Point Park in White River Junction on Wednesday night at 6:30.
The FLOCK dance troupe performs Carol Langstaff’s Woman at the Star Mountain Amphitheater in Sharon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at 6:30. Admission at the gate costs $10 to $12. For more information, visit flockdance.org or call 802-765-4454.
Director Jay Craven screens and talks about his latest release, Peter and John, on Saturday night at 7 at Dartmouth College’s Loew Auditorium. For tickets ($5 to $10) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
For the next in its series of free movies at Alumni Hall in Haverhill, Court Street Arts on Friday night screens the animated Disney feature Happy Feet, about a tone-deaf emperor penguin with a gift for dance. The lights go down at 6:30.
Guitarist Brett Hughes accompanies singer Lucy Chapin at the Canoe Club in Hanover tonight at 6:30. Following them to the microphone with 6:30 to 9:30 shows over the coming week are guitarist Billy Rosen and bassist Peter Concilio on Friday, pianist Keith Bush on Saturday and pianist Bob Lucier with a set of jazz on Wednesday.
Singer-songwriter Sarah Wallis performs at the Boho Cafe in downtown White River Junction tonight between 7 and 10, followed Friday night at 7 by The Conniption Fits.
The Jerrymanders pull into Windsor Station tonight at 7. Next to the microphone will be Traveling Broke and Out of Gas with a set of Americana on Saturday night at 9:30 and singer-songwriter Kyle Boisvert on Tuesday night at 6.
The Michael Parker Duo plays a set of soul at Bentley’s restaurant in Woodstock tonight at 8, followed Friday night at 7 by singer-songwriter John Paul O’Connor.
Bobbi ’n’ Me performs in the tavern at Jesse’s in Hanover on Friday night starting at 5.
Royalton singer-songwriter Alison “AliT” Turner joins Soulfix on the green in South Royalton on Friday night from 8 to 11, as part of the town’s Old Home Days celebration.
Moxley Union sets the rhythm for dancing at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners on Friday night starting at 8.
∎The line-up at Lebanon’s Salt hill Pub features the Jerrymanders on Friday night at 9 and Sirsy on Saturday night at 9.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon runs an open mic on Tuesday nights, beginning at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern, at 8:30 on Wednesday nights.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.comand at 603-727-3304.