Cecil McBee

Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee, The Cookers at Nice 2016
Background information
Born	(1935-05-19) May 19, 1935 (age 81) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Double bass
Labels	Strata-East, Enja, India Navigation, Palmetto
Associated acts	Dinah Washington, Paul Winter, Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Wayne Shorter, Charles Lloyd, Yusef Lateef, Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Alice Coltrane, The Cookers

Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist, one of the most influential in the history of jazz. McBee has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums.

McBee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on May 19, 1935. He studied clarinet at school, but switched to bass at the age of 17, and began playing in local nightclubs. After gaining a music degree from Ohio Central State University, he spent two years in the army, during which time he conducted the band at Fort Knox. In 1959 he played with Dinah Washington, and in 1962 he moved to Detroit, where he worked with Paul Winter's folk-rock ensemble in 1963–64.

His jazz career began to take off in the mid-1960s, after he moved to New York, when he began playing and recording with a number of significant musicians including Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean (1964), Wayne Shorter (1965–66), Charles Lloyd (1966), Yusef Lateef (1967–69), Keith Jarrett, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw (1986), and Alice Coltrane (1969–72).

In the 2000s, McBee unsuccessfully sued a Japanese company that opened a chain of stores under his name.

He was an artist in residence at Harvard from 2010 to 2011. He teaches at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts.

With the Ray Anderson