Christian McBride Shares ‘Old Folks’ Single Featuring Samara Joy

Jazz vocalist Samara Joy is featured on Christian McBride’s latest single, “Old Folks.” The song appears on the accomplished bassist’s forthcoming album, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1.

The eight-song Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 arrives on August 29 via Mack Avenue Records. Joy is one of several guests who contributed to the pending record, along with Dianne Reeves, José James, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jeffrey Osborne and Antoinette Henry. The previously shared single, “Murder By Numbers” features The Police’s Sting and Andy Summers.

The follow-up to McBride’s Grammy Award-winning 2020 LP, For Jimmy, Wes & Oliver, sees the bassist backed by McClenty Hunter, Jr. (drums), Rodney Jones (guitar), Xavier Davis (piano/electric piano/clavinet), Frank Greene, Freddie Hendrix, Brandon Lee, Nabate Isles (trumpets), Michael Dease, Steve Davis, James Burton III (trombones), Doug Purviance, Max Seigel (bass trombone), Justin Mullen (french horn), Steve Wilson (alto/soprano saxophone), Todd Bashore (alto saxophone/flute), Ron Blake, Dan Pratt (tenor saxophone), Carl Maraghi (baritone saxophone/bass clarinet), Janet Axelrod (flute), Alan Kay (clarinet), Pedrito Martinez (percussion), Warren Wolf (vibraphone) and Shannon Pearson (background vocals).

“Often times, jazz can get so deep into its own vacuum, we forget what’s the most important thing – emotion,” McBride revealed. “Many jazz critics will tell you it’s process or concept, but if nobody can feel it, what good is either? Samara Joy doesn’t have that issue. She always emotes. I have a strong feeling that after you hear her interpret ‘Old Folks,’ you will intimately understand just who ‘Old Folks’ was, and your eyes dare not be dry. Thank you, Samara.”

“‘Old Folks’ could be multiple people that you think about in your life, whether it’s family or not,” Joy added. “I heard Carmen McRae’s, Ernestine Anderson, and Charlie Parker’s versions. It was a song that people don’t normally record or hear the lyrics to, so I thought about Roy Haynes, Quincy Jones and all of these different people who have so much wisdom bottled up that they share.”

Stream Christian McBride and Samara Joy’s new single, “Old Folks,” below: