Bass Quartet Zambia

[Annette Fazzari]

He's a tireless road warrior, traveling the world as the leader of his own big band and his New Jawn quartet, recording and performing with a long and genre-fluid list of musicians from Sting and Herbie Hancock to Rhiannon Giddens and Rene Fleming. He's the artistic director of the legendary Newport Jazz Festival, and he serves as an artistic advisor and director for several other institutions including the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, where we filmed this conversation. He hosts and produces The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian on SiriusXM, and Jazz Night in America for NPR Music and WBGO. He's played on more than 300 recordings and won eight Grammys. He's a composer, producer, curator, educator and ambassador. He literally never stops.

There are many reasons why people are driven to push themselves to their limits. But for Christian, it's simple: He just loves music. When he plays, when he talks about music or thinks about it or listens to it, he lights up with pure joy. And joy like that, in our world today, is powerful.

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