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Christian McBride's Ursa Major Releases Debut Album Points of Light, Produced by Terrace Martin
Points of Light, the debut album by Christian McBride's quintet Ursa Major with Nicole Glover, Ely Perlman, Mike King and Savannah Harris, is out Oct. 30 on Mack Avenue Records. Terrace Martin produced it, and the only cover is George Duke's No Rhyme, No Reason.
Bassist Christian McBride's newest band, Ursa Major, releases its debut album, Points of Light, on Friday, Oct. 30, via Mack Avenue Records. The quintet brings together four younger musicians: tenor and soprano saxophonist Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, pianist and keyboardist Mike King and drummer Savannah Harris.
The label presents the record as McBride stepping into his "Art Blakey era," a reference to the drummer whose Jazz Messengers served as a training ground for generations of young players. According to the album announcement, McBride began assembling the group in 2022. "I had been itching to put together a new band, what I like to call a 'hybrid band,' for some time," he said. "I didn't know at first what form that band would take, but I knew that it had to be a young band."
The announcement describes how each member arrived. Harris was recommended by several colleagues, and Glover came to McBride's attention through other musicians. He heard Perlman at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program, where McBride is artistic director, and King was the joint recommendation of Harris and Glover. The album title, McBride said, reflects the individuality of his bandmates: "I have four young stars here."
Points of Light was produced by Terrace Martin, with McBride as associate producer. According to the album credits, it was recorded at Sear Sound in New York on Sept. 14-16, 2025, and mixed and mastered at Amplified Art & Sound. Martin adds Korg Kronos, Minimoog, Oberheim and vocoder on several tracks, and producer and multi-instrumentalist Quintin Gulledge contributes clavinet, Oberheim and Prophet-5. McBride plays acoustic bass on most of the album and electric bass on two tracks.
The eight tracks are "Sakura," "Two Check," "Cows," "Same Folks," "Familiar Steps," "A Morning Story," "Orquíeda" and "No Rhyme, No Reason." The label says every member of the band contributed original material. The one cover, George Duke's 1992 single "No Rhyme, No Reason," came out of conversations in the control room and was released as the first single when the album was announced in September. "Cows" followed as a second single.
"This album is basically an extension of what we've been doing live for the last four years," McBride said. "They don't say no to anything, which is a wonderful thing."
The band has spent the autumn touring the record in the United States, Japan and Europe, including dates at SFJAZZ, Blue Note Tokyo, Ronnie Scott's and the Enjoy Jazz festival in Heidelberg. The published itinerary ends with a concert at Glazer Hall in Palm Beach, Florida, on release day. The album is available on CD, vinyl and digital formats.