Congrats to Montclair’s two Grammy winners tonight! Robert Aldridge, chair of the music department at Montclair State, took home two: best classical composition for his opera “Elmer Gantry” and best engineered classical recording.
And the Christian McBride Big Band took a Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, “The Good Feeling.” McBride is half of the husband-and-wife team behind Jazz House Kids.
Aldridge’s opera, based on Sinclair Lewis’s 1927 novel, debuted in 2007 at the Nashville Opera, and made its New York area debut at Montclair State’s Kasser Theater in 2008. The New York Times called it an “intoxicating experience: a new American work that set out to honor both its source material (the great Sinclair Lewis satire of evangelism) and its new medium.”
Bassist Christian McBride has played with Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Isaac Hayes, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole and James Brown. “The Good Feeling” was released last year by Mack Avenue Records.
They are wonderful musicians. Congratulations to both!