CECIL MCBEE, JR.

Talent Spotlight

Extraordinaire

CECIL MCBEE, JR.

“If you want to be a working a musician on today’s scene, you might love jazz, but you have to be versatile with the ability to play other types of music.”

Bassman

CECIL MCBEE, JR.

by Radha Botofasina

The first time Cecil Mc Bee, Jr. remembered hearing music that caught his ear was at seven years old. He heard a Rod Stewart song, Maggie May, and the bass line resonated with him. He and his mother moved to Los Angeles from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“She was raising me on her own. She was a nurse at the Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital, throughout my youth. My sister is musical, but she did not become a musician, nor did she have the support that I had to play music,” Cecil reflected. At 16, he moved to New York to live with his father, Cecil McBee, Sr, and his second wife, Lucia. He attended Harlem Prep School and, at 17, he joined The Spirits of Rhythm, a group of young musicians learning the art of jazz from professional mentors. Four years later, Chico Hamilton hired Cecil to play bass in his band.

Cecil writes smooth jazz tunes. One of them, Cecil’s Groove, has over 2 .4 million downloads on Spotify and went to #27 on the Smooth Jazz charts. Cecil said, “A friend invited me to put a few songs on his album, I had the files on my computer, and he included it. I’m playing a piccolo bass on it.” On the topic of the marginalization of women in the male-dominated music industry, Cecil said, “I think the challenges that women face now in music are different than back in the day. Nowadays, if a woman can make good music or they can entertain, then her appearance becomes secondary. Ladies like Lizzo, Queen Latifah, Kelly Clarkson, and Adele have broken the image barriers in Pop music.”

Cecil works with women, mostly. He is a long-time colleague and friend of bassist Kim Clarke. He said, “Nowadays, there are so many more ladies playing bass. They play hard and are completely legit. In fact, they are playing harder than a lot of guys.”

Cecil advises a young musician to get out there and be seen. “Keep your axe in the car and hang out as much as possible. If you want to start performing live, make sure you can play. After a while, people will see you and ask you to sit in.” This is advice that Cecil’s father gave to him, and he highly recommends it.

“If you want to be a working a musician on today’s scene, you might love jazz, but you have to be versatile with the ability to play other types of music,” Cecil advised. He feels that today’s musician is not going to make a living like jazz musicians did in the 1980s. So, he believes a young musician needs to know how to play everything from country, hip hop, electronica, blues, pop, and world music with an eclectic approach. This will enable the aspirant to appreciate multiple genres of music. “Putting it simply,” Cecil said, “be seen and learn a bunch of music.”

Cecil McBee Jr. lives in San Diego, California, where he is a muchsought-after electric bassist and composer.

Radha Botofasina