Jazz Notes is Back!
As we shared a few weeks ago, editions of Jazz Notes were paused while Signature Cruise Experiences was “at sea” with The Jazz Cruise ’25, Botti at Sea ’25, The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’25.1 and The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’25.2. Having completed those four sailings, we are thrilled to be publishing the first edition of Jazz Notes in 2025. The ’25 Sailings were amazing. 28 days of music and guests from around the world sharing time and space together in harmony, knowing that every member of the audience was a fan of great music.
Though it is impossible to name all 300 or so of the performers who were presented during that time, here is a list of just a few names that stand out….
David Foster • Dianne Reeves • Katharine McPhee • Diana Krall • Chris Botti • Marcus Miller • Boney James • Christian McBride • Jonathan Butler • Bob James • Lee Ritenour • Patti Austin • Emmet Cohen • esperanza spalding • Bill Charlap • Renee Rosnes • Arturo Sandoval • The Eubanks Brothers • Dave Weckl • Kamasi Washington • Kurt Elling • Sullivan Fortner • Kool & the Gang • Peter Cincotti • Brian Culbertson • and more!
For all four sailings Brian Rachko was the Production Manager, Eric Marienthal was the Music Director and Mario Vines served as our emcee. I am proud of the hard work they put into the shows and I thank them profusely for their accomplishments. Coupled with our guest and cruise operations directors, Aubrey and Brad Pavlik, the Signature Cruise Experiences team live up to its Gold Standard claims.
Final ’25 Cruise: Journey of Jazz ’25
The ’25 Sailings have one more cruise to present, Journey of Jazz ’25, which is our first West Coast cruise in years. It sails from September 12 to September 19, 2025 from Vancouver to Los Angeles with calls in Victoria and San Francisco. Extensive land-based events and shows curated by us are one of the highlights of this unique cruise program. That, plus another amazing lineup of stars, will make Journey of Jazz ’25 one of the most memorable cruises in our history.
Hosted by Marcus Miller and Gregory Porter, the lineup includes Diana Krall, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Sullivan Fortner, Chucho Valdés, Ravi Coltrane and a whole host of top flight jazz cats. Between the music and the on land events, no cruise in our history will have more hours of programming. The cruise is more than 80% sold and the inventory is mainly Ocean View and Inside Staterooms, but a few Concierge Class and Veranda Staterooms remain available.
Special Opportunity: For now, Ocean View and Inside Staterooms are priced favorably for readers of Jazz Notes. Go online and use the promo code: WEEKENDER, for your price. These are the lowest cruise prices for those staterooms and this promotion will end soon.
Spotlight on Christian McBride’s World at Sea ’26
This edition’s Spotlight story is how Christian McBride’s World at Sea ’26 came to be a new jazz cruise program for Signature Cruise Experiences. Its origin is the story of one man: Christian McBride. In the world of jazz, there are few musicians more prolific, more recognizable and more versatile than Christian McBride. As the leader of Inside Straight, Remembering Ray Brown, Ursa Major, New Jawn, Tip City and the Christian McBride Big Band, Christian is a cruise full of talent by himself. And, that is how the cruise was born.
Typically, Christian tours the world with one of his ensembles at a time. As a fan of, say Inside Straight, it may be years between performances of that group in your town. To see all the groups, you must either have a great deal of time or be willing to travel to multiple locations. Christian McBride’s World at Sea will be the central location for many of these groups for one week (January 20 – 27, 2026). Here is a quick primer of the groups that will appear, the likely musicians and a brief overview of their content.
Inside Straight
Inside Straight, one of Christian’s longest running bands, features an all-star cast of Steve Wilson (saxophones), Peter Martin (piano), Warren Wolf (vibes) and Carl Allen (drums). Encouraged by The Village Vanguard’s owner Lorraine Gordon, the quintet first played together in December 2007 at the club where it would go on to appear in a week-long residency every December since. Over the years, the group has released four albums, from the debut, Live at the Village Vanguard to Kind of Brown and People Music. Christian describes the music from Inside Straight as “no-holds-barred swinging,” so it’s no surprise that the band has become a favorite of our guests sailing on The Jazz Cruise.
Remembering Ray Brown
One of Christian’s most important mentors was the legendary bassist Ray Brown, known for his seminal recordings with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and other jazz greats. Christian first met his hero when Brown came to hear him perform in a duo with Benny Green. Brown would later use Green and drummer Gregory Hutchinson in his own trio and he told Robert Doerschuk that, “If I had been a drummer, Christian would have been in my band.”
Indeed, Christian would later get to play with Brown in a group along with John Clayton (as well as Green and Hutchinson) called SuperBass that recorded and toured in the late ‘90s. Emblematic of his esteem for McBride and Clayton, Brown bequeathed a bass to each of them. Clayton’s precious bass from Brown was recently destroyed in the California wildfires and McBride promised to give his Ray Brown bass to his longtime friend after he resettled. In recent years, Christian has performed in a trio with Benny and Gregory to salute their mentor.
Ursa Major
One of Christian’s unique gifts is acting as a mentor to younger generations of jazz musicians. Christian’s newest ensemble is Ursa Major, a quintet featuring Nicole Glover (tenor saxophone), Mike King (keyboards), Eli Perlman (guitar) and Savannah Harris (drums), each of whom is more than 20 years younger than the leader.
“Hearing Nicole, Mike, Eli and Savannah, I thought of them as a hybrid band,” he explained. “We could play a little bit of anything all in the same set. We could play acoustic straight ahead. We could go funky. We could go esoteric.” Although thus far unrecorded, the band has been touring regularly throughout the world during the last few years, garnering critical and popular acclaim.
Christian McBride Big Band
One of the most creative outlets for Christian as both a bandleader and composer is the Christian McBride Big Band, with whom he has recorded four albums since 2011, three of which have won GRAMMY® awards for the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. However, his first foray into the world of big band composing and arranging dates back to 1995, when he was commissioned by Jazz At Lincoln Center to write “Bluesin’ in Alphabet City,” which was originally debuted by Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra.
In 1998, his The Movement Revisited, a four-movement suite dedicated to four of the major figures of the civil rights movement — Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — was commissioned by the Portland Arts Society in Maine. Christian would go on to compose and arrange the music for the 17-piece group’s 2011 debut album The Good Feeling, followed by Bringin’ It (2017) and Jimmy, Wes and Oliver (2020), as well as The Movement Revisited. The big band will bring aboard a surfeit of accomplished players who can perform in various contexts during the cruise.
Vocals, Comedy & More
Christian McBride’s World is more than hip and exciting instrumental music. Christian’s tastes include great vocalists, top comics and fun events of all kinds. Singers joining Christian on the cruise are José James, and GRAMMY® Winners Cécile McLorin Salvant and Ledisi.
The comic lineup is equally stellar, led by the legendary George Wallace together with his good friend and long time Signature Cruise Experiences funny man, Alonzo Bodden.
Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing a whole host of special events, parties, and more. If you have ever spent time with Christian McBride, you know how much fun that can be. Now imagine a 7-day cruise that Christian has more than a year to plan…it has to be cool. It has to be fun.
Special Opportunity: For now, Inside and Ocean View Staterooms are priced favorably for readers of Jazz Notes. Go online and use the promo code: CMW for your price.
Join Christian’s Mailing List
Want to learn more about Christian McBride’s world? Then why not join his mailing list?
You’ll be the first to know about his new music, upcoming tour dates, new merchandise, his future cruise appearances and all the incredible events happening in Christian’s world. To sign up, click here, enter your email address and click “Subscribe.”
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