When bassist Christian McBride was asked to compose an anthem in response to that question, he thought about playing the hand that you’re dealt. So for WXPN’s semiquincentennial series Philly Anthems, he wrote a tune inspired by 19th-century military marches yet titled after a more casual invitation: “Pick A Card.” He recorded it in the World Cafe studio with an all-Philadelphia band featuring Jeff Bradshaw on trombone, Orrin Evans on piano and Byron Landham on drums.
The song, in waltz time, opens with an almost hymnal melody played by Evans and McBride, who uses a bow. After one full pass through the form, Bradshaw adds his bluesy annotations. He begins his second chorus with a modulation into a clashing key, which Evans instantly amplifies with dissonant chord clusters — a commentary, perhaps, on the conflict often built into free and open exchange.
“I think of America as this melting pot of somewhat disjointed ideas and many different interpretations of what freedom is,” explains McBride. “That’s where I came up with the title ‘Pick A Card.’ I imagine a person who has never been to America looking at Uncle Sam dealing some cards and basically saying, ‘Hey, pick one’ — and you might get lucky and find some version of freedom that you understand. That’s how I hear America at 250: a lot of conflict, a lot of unwillingness to bend on anyone else’s interpretation. But somehow, you put that all together, and it makes some type of music.”
WXPN created Philly Anthems with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, asking a dozen Philadelphians — five musicians of national prominence and seven emerging local artists — to write and record original songs inspired by themes of freedom and independence. McBride, a noted alumnus of The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), is the standout jazz artist in the bunch.
The four other noted contributors are Lady Alma, Devon Gilfillian, Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, and Eliza Hardy Jones of The War On Drugs. In the fall, the project’s focus will turn to the emerging artists: Grace Gardener, Black Buttafly, The Bul Bey, JR Everhart, Sug Daniels, Moustapha Noumbissi, and The Flying Vees.
For more information about Philly Anthems, visit our friends at WXPN.
