Bringin' It

Matt Collar of AllMusic wrote "Christian McBride's second big-band album, 2017's Bringin' It, is a robust, swaggeringly performed set of originals and standards showcasing his deft arranging skills and his ensemble's exuberant virtuosity. The album comes six years after his previous big-band outing, The Good Feeling, and once again finds the bassist conscripting a slew of his talented cohorts (some new, others returning), including saxophonists Steve Wilson and Ron Blake, trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Brandon Lee, trombonist Steve Davis, pianist Xavier Davis, drummer Quincy Phillips, and others... With Bringin' It, McBride has ultimately crafted a big-band album that retains all of his own formidable, exuberant characteristics."

Dan Bilawsky of All About Jazz said "This album serves as the long-awaited follow-up to The Good Feeling (Mack Avenue, 2011), the group's Grammy-winning debut. And like its lauded predecessor, Bringin' It presents a tight and tasty program of music designed by McBride and bolstered by his bass. Everything you've come to expect from this musical dynamo—taste, punch, humor, intelligence, solid gold grooves, an appreciation for lyricism—is here for the taking. Styles and settings vary greatly from track to track and moment to moment, but this ensemble is remarkably consistent through it all."

John Fordham of The Guardian mentioned "McBride’s exciting big band is the perfect festival draw – steeped in old-school swing, Latin jazz, funk and Ray Charlesian soul-blues, bristling with hotshot soloists. The opening Gettin’ to It... is a genial swagger of blues hooks, slyly squealing trumpet-section riffs, and rhythm guitar drive. But after that effusive hello, the leader’s craft and erudition bloom, in the boppishly Byzantine arrangement and pounding bass-walk of Freddie Hubbard’s Thermo, the bluesiness of Wes Montgomery’s Full House, and the impressionistic, then anthemic, visit to McCoy Tyner’s Sahara. McBride’s originals are not quite so convincing, and there are a few band-bantering longueurs, but live, this punchy outfit could captivate the traditionalists and jazz hair-shirt wearers, too."