VOA常速英语:Jazz Meets Pop on McBride’s New Album

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If singer and pianist Joe McBride was seeking a new direction, he found it with a collection of songs outside his usual jazz offerings, Lookin' for a Change.

“I wanted to take some of my favorite pop tunes, songs that have been released in the past few years, and interpret them in a way that no one would expect,” he says.

Joe is known for pushing boundaries. Although bebop, soul, funk and gospel were his earliest influences, he’s never limited himself to one particular style. Even after losing his sight to a degenerative eye disease in his teens, he continued to broaden his horizons. He added singing to his repertoire, majored in jazz performance in college, and launched his professional career as a member of the West Coast contemporary jazz band Fattburger.

Joe’s vocal skills are put to the test on his latest CD, including a Latin-tinged interpretation of Corinne Bailey Rae’s Like A Star.

Joe’s change in direction may surprise some fans. But, according to Joe, the time was right for switching gears. “Unlike my previous recordings, which were primarily electronic, I wanted to try something different by recording these tunes in the traditional style of jazz, with acoustic piano, drums and upright bass,” he says.

Marking his first ever all-vocal, all-acoustic album are songs by John Mayer, Seal, Gavin DeGraw, Gnarls Barkley, and Cameo, three Joe McBride originals, and the Rob Thomas single, This Is How A Heart Breaks.