Cecil McBee

Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of classic jazz albums.

Early life and career
McBee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. He studied clarinet at school, but switched to bass at the age of 17, and began playing in local nightclubs. After gaining a music degree from Ohio Central State University, McBee spent two years in the U.S. Army, during which time he conducted the band at Fort Knox. In 1959, he played with Dinah Washington, and in 1962 he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked with Paul Winter's folk-rock ensemble between 1963 and 1964.

New York
His jazz career began to take off in the mid-1960s, after he moved to New York, when he began playing and recording with a number of significant musicians including Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean (1964), Wayne Shorter (1965–66), Charles Lloyd (1966), Yusef Lateef (1967–69), Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw (1986), and Alice Coltrane (1969–72).

Later career
In the 2000s, McBee unsuccessfully sued a Japanese company that opened a chain of stores under his name.

He was an artist in residence at Harvard from 2010 to 2011. He teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

Awards

 * 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Grammys

 * Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane (MCA, 1987), Pharoah Sanders/David Murray/McCoy Tyner/Cecil McBee/Roy Haynes – Winner, Best instrumental performance, individual or group, Grammy Awards, 1988.

As leader/co-leader

 * Mutima (Strata-East, 1974)
 * Alternate Spaces (Bomba, 1977)
 * Music from the Source (Enja, 1977 [1978])
 * Compassion (Enja, 1977 [1979])
 * Flying Out (India Navigation, 1982)
 * Roots of Blue (RPR, 1986) – duets with Muhal Richard Abrams
 * Unspoken (Palmetto, 1996 [1997])
 * Tribal Ghost (NoBusiness, 2007 [2013]) with John Tchicai, Charlie Kohlhase, Garrison Fewell, and Billy Hart

With Almanac (Mike Nock, Bennie Maupin, McBee, Eddie Marshall)
 * Almanac (Improvising Artists, 1967 [1977])

As sideman
With George Adams With Ray Anderson With Chet Baker With Bill Barron With Kenny Barron With the Bob Thiele Collective With Joanne Brackeen With Dollar Brand With Anthony Braxton With Roy Brooks With Joe Chambers With Alice Coltrane With Junior Cook With Stanley Cowell With Ted Curson With Ricky Ford With Chico Freeman With Hal Galper With Johnny Griffin With Louis Hayes With Roy Haynes With Andrew Hill With Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw With Elvin Jones With Clifford Jordan With John Klemmer With Prince Lasha With Yusef Lateef With The Leaders With Dave Liebman With Charles Lloyd With Raphe Malik With Joe Maneri With Jackie McLean With Lloyd McNeill With Charles McPherson With Grachan Moncur III With Tisziji Munoz With Amina Claudine Myers With Art Pepper With Dannie Richmond With Sam Rivers With Charlie Rouse With Pharoah Sanders With various artists With Saxophone Summit With Zbigniew Seifert With Woody Shaw With Archie Shepp With Wayne Shorter With Sonny Simmons With Lonnie Liston Smith With Buddy Tate and Dollar Brand With Leon Thomas With Horace Tapscott With Charles Tolliver With Mickey Tucker With McCoy Tyner With James "Blood" Ulmer With Mal Waldron With Michael White With Paul Winter With Yōsuke Yamashita With Denny Zeitlin With Norman Connors
 * America (Blue Note, 1990)
 * Old Bottles - New Wine (Enja, 1985)
 * Blues for a Reason (Criss Cross Jazz, 1985)
 * Live at Cobi's 2 (SteepleChase, 1985 [2006])
 * Landscape (Baystate, 1984)
 * What If? (Enja, 1986)
 * Live at Fat Tuesdays (Enja, 1988)
 * Sunrise Sunset (Red Baron, 1990)
 * Snooze (Choice, 1975)
 * Tring-a-Ling (Choice, 1977)
 * Havin' Fun (Concord Jazz, 1985)
 * Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven (Concord Jazz, 1986)
 * Turnaround (Evidence, 1992)
 * African Space Program (Enja, 1973)
 * Eight (+3) Tristano Compositions, 1989: For Warne Marsh (hatArt, 1989)
 * The Free Slave (Muse, 1970 [1972])
 * The Almoravid (Muse, 1974)
 * Journey in Satchidananda (Impulse!, 1970)
 * Carnegie Hall '71 (Hi Hat, 2018)
 * The Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!, 2024)
 * Pressure Cooker (Catalyst, 1977)
 * Equipoise (Galaxy, 1979)
 * Close to You Alone (DIW, 1990)
 * Blue Piccolo (Whynot, 1976)
 * Looking Ahead (Muse. 1986)
 * Morning Prayer (India Navigation, 1976)
 * Chico (India Navigation, 1977)
 * The Outside Within (India Navigation, 1978)
 * Kings of Mali (India Navigation, 1978)
 * Spirit Sensitive (India Navigation, 1979)
 * Destiny's Dance (Contemporary, 1981)
 * Now Hear This (Enja, 1977)
 * Birds and Ballads (1978)
 * Variety Is the Spice (Gryphon, 1978)
 * Thank You Thank You (Galaxy, 1977)
 * Vistalite (Galaxy, 1977 [1979])
 * Compulsion! (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Double Take (Blue Note, 1986)
 * Power Trio (Novus, 1990) – with John Hicks
 * When I Was at Aso-Mountain (Enja, 1990)
 * Elvin Jones Jazz Machine (Trio, 1997)
 * It Don't Mean a Thing (Enja, 1993)
 * Two Tenor Winner (Criss Cross, 1984)
 * Magic and Movement (Impulse!, 1974)
 * Inside Story (Enja, 1965 [1981])
 * The Complete Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1967)
 * The Blue Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1968)
 * Yusef Lateef's Detroit (Atlantic, 1969)
 * The Diverse Yusef Lateef (Atlantic, 1970)
 * Mudfoot (Black Hawk, 1986)
 * Out Here Like This (Black Saint, 1987)
 * Heaven Dance (Sunnyside, 1988) – The Leaders Trio with pianist Kirk Lightsey and drummer Don Moye
 * Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint, 1988)
 * Slipping and Sliding (Sound Hills, 1994)
 * Spirits Alike (Double Moon, 2006)
 * The Seasons (Soul Note, 1992)
 * John Coltrane's Meditations (Arkadia Jazz, 1998)
 * Dream Weaver (1966, Atlantic)
 * Forest Flower (1966, Atlantic)
 * The Flowering (1966, Atlantic)
 * Charles Lloyd in Europe (1966, Atlantic)
 * Storyline (Boxholder, 1999) – with Cody Moffett
 * Dahabenzapple (hat ART, 1993 [1996])
 * It's Time! (Blue Note, 1964)
 * Action Action Action (Blue Note, 1964)
 * Treasures (1976)
 * New Horizons (Xanadu, 1977)
 * Some Other Stuff (Blue Note, 1964)
 * Echoes of Prayer (JCOA, 1975) with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra
 * Rendezvous With Now (India Navigation, 1978)
 * Visiting This Planet (Anami Music, 1988)
 * Presence of Joy (Anami Music, 1999)
 * Divine Radiance (Anami Music, 2003)
 * Salutes Bessie Smith (Leo, 1980)
 * Winter Moon (Galaxy, 1980)
 * "In" Jazz for the Culture Set (Impulse!, 1965)
 * Dimensions & Extensions (Blue Note, 1967)
 * Streams (Impulse!, 1973)
 * Hues (Impulse!, 1973)
 * Emanation (NoBusiness, 2019) - Volume 1 of the Sam Rivers Archive Series; recorded in 1971
 * Social Call (Uptown, 1984) with Red Rodney
 * Izipho Zam (My Gifts) (Strata-East, 1969 [1973])
 * Jewels of Thought (Impulse!, 1969)
 * Thembi (Impulse!, 1970)
 * Black Unity (Impulse!, 1971)
 * Live at the East (Impulse!, 1972)
 * Village of the Pharoahs (Impulse!, 1973)
 * Love in Us All (Impulse!, 1973)
 * Wisdom Through Music (Impulse!, 1973)
 * The New Wave in Jazz (Impulse!, 1965)
 * Gathering of Spirits (Telarch, 2004)
 * Man of the Light (MPS Records, 1977)
 * The Moontrane (Muse, 1974)
 * Love Dance (Muse, 1975)
 * The Iron Men with Anthony Braxton (Muse, 1977 [1980])
 * Lady Bird (Denon, 1978)
 * Et Cetera (Blue Note, 1965)
 * Odyssey of Iska (Blue Note, 1970)
 * Burning Spirits (Contemporary, 1971)
 * Astral Traveling (Flying Dutchman, 1973)
 * Expansions (Flying Dutchman, 1975)
 * Rejuvenation (Doctor Jazz, 1985)
 * Make Someone Happy (Doctor Jazz, 1986)
 * Buddy Tate Meets Dollar Brand (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
 * Spirits Known and Unknown (1969)
 * The Dark Tree, Vol. 1 & 2 (hatOLOGY, 1989)
 * Live at Slugs', Volume I & II (Strata-East, 1970)
 * Music Inc. (Strata-East, 1971)
 * Impact (Strata-East, 1975)
 * With Love (Blue Note, 2006)
 * Sojourn (Xanadu, 1977)
 * Mister Mysterious (Muse, 1978)
 * Quartets 4 X 4 (Milestone, 1980)
 * Blues for Coltrane (1987)
 * Revealing (1977)
 * What It Is (Enja, 1981)
 * The Land of Spirit and Light (Impulse!, 1973)
 * Jazz Meets the Folk-Song (1963)
 * Sakura (Verve, 1990)
 * Kurdish Dance (Verve, 1993)
 * Dazzling Days (Verve, 1993)
 * Fragments 1999 (Verve, 1999)
 * Spider (Verve, 1996)
 * Delightful Contrast (Universal, 2011)
 * Cathexis (Columbia, 1963)
 * Dance of Magic (Sony Music Entertainment, 1972)