The album was designed to feel like a live concert, blending retro swing traditions with modern "post-Bop" sensibilities. The Good Feeling – Christian McBride Big Band Review
That single commission planted a seed that took 16 years to fully bloom. Between 1995 and 2011, McBride steadily built a repertoire of large ensemble charts while leading his own smaller groups. When he finally felt he had enough material, he assembled a dream team of New York's "best and busiest players"—including trumpeter , saxophonist Steve Wilson , and his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker —to record his big band debut, The Good Feeling . Key Tracks and Influences
In 1995, bassist Christian McBride was already a "phenom" of the New York jazz scene. That year, he received a phone call from Wynton Marsalis, who commissioned him to write a piece for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. McBride had never written for a big band before, describing his experience as only "homemade experiments". Nervous but pushed to "get down and dirty," he penned .
