Joe McBride

Born and raised in Fulton, MO, keyboardist and vocalist Joe McBride took up the piano at age four. His uncle Bake McBride played outfield for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cleveland Indians. Gospel, bebop, straight-ahead jazz, Motown, and seventies R&B and funk formed his earliest musical foundations. During his teenage years he began performing vocals and piano in jazz clubs. At that stage a degenerative eye disease gradually took his sight, yet his commitment to music remained undiminished. He pursued further training at the Missouri School for the Blind and at Webster University in suburban St. Louis, where jazz performance was his major, and he also spent time at the University of North Texas.

Around 1983 McBride relocated to San Diego, CA, then a stronghold of smooth-jazz broadcasting. There he joined the band Fattburger and worked alongside guitarist Steve Laury. In 1985 he traveled to Dallas, TX, to visit his brother; what began as a two-week stay turned into a lasting base after a surge of performance opportunities established him as a fixture on the city’s jazz-club circuit. At a North Texas State University event he met trumpeter Dave Love. The two formed a quick friendship, and when Love later founded the Heads Up International label he recalled the pianist and vocalist from Dallas and offered him a recording contract.

In 1992 McBride appeared on labelmate Kenny Blake’s debut album Interior Design and toured with the Heads Up Superband alongside Blake, Gerald Veasley, and Henry Johnson. He has also served as opening act for Whitney Houston, Larry Carlton, and the Yellowjackets. His profile extends abroad, where he enjoys particular favor in Europe and Spain.

McBride’s first album, Grace, arrived in 1992 and quickly placed him among the steady rotation artists at smooth-jazz radio. His remaining nineties releases comprise A Gift for Tomorrow (1994), Keys to Your Heart (1996), and Double Take (1998). A distinguished roster of guests on his projects has included Grover Washington, Jr., Richard Elliot, Phil Perry, Peter White, Dave Koz, Rick Braun, and Larry Carlton, among others.

At the outset of the new century McBride realized a long-held ambition by recording with his own group, the Texas Rhythm Club. The resulting album Texas Rhythm Club was tracked in Dallas and released by Heads Up International on June 27, 2000. Standout tracks include “Howzit in Dallas,” “Everything Remains the Same,” the ballad “It’s You,” the buoyant “Lone Star Boogie,” and the lighthearted “Texas Blues Cruise.” Subsequent projects have kept his catalog active, with Keepin’ It Real appearing in 2002, Texas Hold’em in 2005, and Lookin’ for a Change issued by Heads Up Records in 2009.