He’s been a teen prodigy, in fact he joined the group of the saxophonist Bobby Watson when he was only 17-years-old. Since when he was 17, till when he became 22-years-old, Christian started playing with many prestigious bands and affirmed musicians, like Watson himself, Freddie Hubbard, J. J. Johnson, Benny Golson, Milt Jackson and Hank Jones, and also with other musicians of his same age like Roy Hargrove, Benny Green, and Joshua Redman.

Christian has been part in those years even of the Joshua Redman’s Quartet, together with pianist Brad Mehlday, and the drummer Brian Blade. In 1995 Christian started leading his own group, together with the saxophonist Tim Warfield, the pianists Joey Calderazzo and Charles Craig, and the drummers Carl Allen and Greg Hutchinson. In 1996 Christian joined the bassist Ray Brown with is group called SuperBass, and they released two albums, “SuperBass: Live at Scullers” (1997) and “SuperBass 2: Live at the Blue Note” (2001). From 2000 to 2008, Christian assembled and lead his ensemble, called the “Christian McBride Band”, together with the pianist Geoffrey Keezer, the saxophonist Ron Blake, and the drummer Terreon Gully. This ensemble released two albums: “Vertical Vision” (2003) and “Live at Tonic” (2006).

In 2006 Christian was named to the position of Creative Chair for Jazz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in 2007 he performed with Roy Haynes and Sonny Rollins at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. In 2008 Christian joined the group called the “Five Peace Band” where he performed together with John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Kenny Garrett, and Vinnie Colaiuta. He went in a world tour with the group, and their album “Five Peace Band” (2009) won the 2010 Grammy Award for “Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group”. In 2011 McBride released his first big band album, “The Good Feeling”, for which he won the Grammy for “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance”.