Cecil McBee

Cecil McBee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1935. Social and cultural opportunities remained limited during his childhood there. He began studying clarinet at school and switched to bass at age seventeen while playing in local nightclubs. McBee earned a music degree from Ohio Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio on a partial clarinet scholarship. He spent two years in the U.S. Army conducting the band at Fort Knox. His professional career started in 1959 performing with Dinah Washington while completing college. McBee moved to Detroit in 1962 and worked with Paul Winter’s folk-rock ensemble from 1963 to 1964. This brought him to New York City in 1964.

New York opportunities multiplied immediately. McBee recorded and performed with Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean (1964), Wayne Shorter (1965-1966), and Keith Jarrett. Charles Lloyd’s breakthrough quartet in 1966 featured McBee on bass with Jack DeJohnette on drums and Keith Jarrett on piano, bringing international acclaim. Subsequent late 1960s collaborations included Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef (1967-1969), Alice Coltrane, and Charles Tolliver. McBee appeared on cornerstone releases for Blue Note, Impulse!, and Atlantic. Alice Coltrane’s “Journey in Satchidananda” (1970, Impulse!) found him delivering resonant double bass lines alongside Coltrane’s harp and piano, Pharoah Sanders’s soprano saxophone, and Rashied Ali’s drums. After this session, Coltrane introduced McBee to Sanders. McBee then initiated contact to join Sanders’s band.

The Pharoah Sanders period brought defining moments. “Thembi” (1971, Impulse!) featured McBee on bass and percussion on tracks like “Astral Travelling” alongside violinist Michael White and pianist Lonnie Liston Smith. Sanders requested that McBee play a solo bass introduction for the recording session. McBee closed his eyes and recalled practice sessions in his 106th Street living room, playing whatever he was trying to achieve for the future. This improvisation was later titled “Love” and brought him worldwide recognition. Music Inc. live recordings at Slugs’ with Charles Tolliver (recorded 1970, released on Strata-East 1972) showcased McBee’s bass supporting Tolliver’s trumpet and Stanley Cowell’s piano in fiery post-bop performances.

McBee’s debut album “Mutima” (Strata-East Records, 1974) was recorded on May 8, 1974 at Minot Sound in White Plains, New York. It featured a quintet with George Adams (tenor and soprano saxophones), Onaje Allen Gumbs (piano and Fender Rhodes), Jimmy Hopps (drums), and Lawrence Killian (congas), plus Tex Allen (trumpet), Allen Braufman (alto saxophone), Art Webb (flute), and guest vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater. The opening track “From Within” used overdubbed double basses creating bowed string textures. The title track “Mutima” became McBee’s favorite composition. Strata-East provided latitude for artists and composers to explore individual paths, defining the independent jazz sound of the 1970s alongside Stanley Cowell. His late 1970s partnership with Enja Records produced “Music from the Source” (1978) and “Compassion” (1979) at New York’s Sweet Basil with a sextet including Chico Freeman.

“Alternate Spaces” (India Navigation, 1979) produced by Bob Cummins remains McBee’s personal favorite album despite limited American recognition. His productive rhythmic partnership with drummer Billy Hart extended influence into the contemporary era. Hart appeared on 32 recordings as sideman. McBee’s additional collaborations from the 1970s through 2000s included Abdullah Ibrahim, Lonnie Liston Smith, Joanne Brackeen, Art Pepper, Chico Freeman, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and Sonny Rollins across four decades. Freddie Hubbard declared his favorite rhythm section consisted of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and McBee.

McBee won a Grammy Award in 1988 for his performance on “Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane” (MCA, 1987) featuring Pharoah Sanders, David Murray, McCoy Tyner, and Roy Haynes. He received two National Endowment for the Arts composition grants in the 1980s and 1990s. The grants supported his creative output and enabled development of new pieces integrating spiritual and heritage motifs with improvisational freedom. His original compositions have been performed worldwide by ensembles from European jazz festivals to American conservatories. Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, and Charles Tolliver have recorded them. McBee published “Anthology of String Bass Improvisation” (Books I, II, and III) incorporating original etudes and exercises serving as educational tools.

McBee became a professor at New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. Students consider “Mutima” and “Alternate Spaces” contemporary works despite their 1970s origins. The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame inducted him in 1991. McBee performs with The Cookers supergroup featuring Billy Harper, Donald Harrison, Eddie Henderson, David Weiss, George Cables, and Billy Hart. Their album “The Call of the Wild and Peaceful Heart” (Smoke Sessions) features McBee originals recalling the postbop milieu. In a 2025 interview approaching his ninetieth year, McBee revealed continued artistic activity and reflected on his six-decade career anchoring rhythm sections for countless bandleaders.