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The first time Christopher McBride picked up a saxophone was when he was 5, though it was little more than a family lark.

McBrides father had come back from a pawnshop with a tenor saxophone, a rather hefty instrument for a small child, and thought it would be funny to have him pose with it for a photo. Little did he know his son would go on to become a professional musician, and the sax skills of the Homewood-Flossmoor High School graduate would help the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra score a Grammy Award this year for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

I was in shock, McBride said of the win. It was a pretty incredible night.

McBride got a free ticket to the show and decided to take his mom, who has been part of his musical journey since the beginning. She was the one who enrolled him at just 4 years old in Suzuki classes. In return, she got an earful at the Grammys.

They said our name, the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, and I just kind of froze, McBride said. I was not expecting to win. I was definitely taken aback. I was screaming obscenities at my mom my poor mom. I couldnt believe it.

Before McBride even spoke words, he was singing music. By 7, he started singing in his church choir on the South Side of Chicago, where he spent his early years. He was living in Homewood and attending Flossmoor School District 161 when he had to picked instrument for the school band at age 10. The sax was not his first choice.

I wanted to play drums but they gave me a practice pad, McBride said. I was like, I dont want a practice pad. Then I saw the saxophone and I said, I want to play that!

He made the top jazz band at H-F as a freshman. He went to both Ireland and London that year, and in Piccadilly Circus he saw some musicians who were playing with Madonnas band. At 14, he was surprised to learn that professional opportunities existed in the world of music.

Thats when I got serious in high school, McBride said.

He started playing at a coffee shop with bandmates from school. He rehearsed almost every after school let out.

Bill Jastrow, the H-F director of bands at the time, recalled McBrides passion for jazz. While it can be hard to predict how ones skills will develop beyond high school or how they will handle hurdles on the road to professional music, Jastrow said McBride has the characteristics of an award winner.

I am not surprised that Chris has reached the artistic levels he has and that he has been awarded a Grammy for his music, Jastrow said. Chris is a magnificent example of how the combination of passion with unrelenting hard work and determination will maximize and enhance anyones talents regardless of their field of interest.

After high school, McBride played in jam sessions. He continued to study music. He found mentors and performed at the now-defunct Velvet Lounge, which he called integral to his development.

I dont know where Id be without it, he said. Just being able to get up there and play, make mistakes and correct mistakes and develop a band sound it was so monumental to who I am.

Christopher McBride, who grew up in Homewood, said he has been getting more attention since winning a Grammy Award this year and releasing his album Ramon. (Alexa Dumont)

While McBride holds a bachelors degree in music education from Northern Illinois University and a masters degree from Queens College in New York, he likes to say he got his education from the Velvet Lounge.

When youre getting cursed out by some grown men when youre 18-19, you learn how to play music real fast, McBride said with a laugh.

He has performed professionally since 2007, though he calls himself forever a student, and tries to find the sweet spot between success and continuing to learn. So he took interest when a mentor offered him an opportunity to study in New York.

Growing up in Homewood, McBride had pictures of rappers all over his wall. And he particularly loved New Yorks culture and history of jazz and hip hop, and how that coincided with Chicagos history. But New York was a place he had up until that point seen as so far away in my head not an option.

He made the move in 2013, taking a year to join jam sessions and practices before starting music school there in 2014. By the time he graduated in 2017, he was getting work all over the city and stayed in Harlem rather than moving back to Chicago.

Since the Grammy win, McBride has been on the road performing in addition to teaching. In mid-February, he also released his second independent album, Ramon, a follow-up to his 2012 debut, Quatuor de Force.

Its just been a really incredible response with the record, McBride said. Im just riding the wave.

The album takes McBrides middle name, which has been in the family for generations and pays tribute to the Honduran side of his heritage. And while McBride takes the most pride in the hustle it took to get an album recorded and released as an independent artist, the musical highlight of Ramon for him is Your Eyes Cant Lie, featuring vocalist J. Hoard. McBride said it offers a short but strong mission statement of his sound.

Everything really came together well, McBride said.

Ramon also includes a three-part movement called Stand Your Ground, inspired by the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. A jury ultimately acquitted George Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the case.

It was really art imitating life, McBride said. After the verdict was read, I heard a melody for the first movement in my head. I just wrote it down.

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Inspired by the composition style of saxophonist Ernest Dawkins, McBride explored the conflict musically, with Part 1 tackling the Suspicion, Part 2 the Confrontation and finally a solemn In Memoriam: The Ballad of Trayvon Martin.

I wanted the emotions to be grief in the third movement a grief of somebody who was taken from us too quickly, unnecessarily, McBride said.

McBrides favorite track to record was the Bronx Unchained. It goes from what he describes as a menacing hip-hop beat to jazz. It was inspired by a week McBride spent living in the borough, which gave him plenty of stories both beautiful and not appropriate for the Southtown.

Living in the South Bronx for a week, I was like, this place needs a song, McBride said. Its just one of those places. This will always be imprinted in my mind.

McBride is not done showcasing what he can do with music. He is hoping to record his third album by the beginning of 2024. He also wants to work with more big bands, as well as continue his Singer Meets Saxophonist project in New York. After all, collaboration continues to foster his lifelong quest to learn.

I always feel like Ive made my most growth musically when Im being pushed and challenged, McBride said.

Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

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