Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon:
Cecil McBee

Floor 8

Curated by celebrated jazz pianist, composer, and visual artist Jason Moran and Whitney performance curator Adrienne Edwards, Jazz on a High Floor in the Afternoon is a series of live in-gallery performances presented over nine weekends. The series features cross-generational artists performing within Moran’s three mixed-media “set sculptures”—STAGED: Savoy Ballroom 1 (2015), STAGED: Three Deuces (2015), and STAGED: Slugs’ Saloon (2018). Each installation pays homage to an iconic New York jazz venue.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1935, Cecil McBee switched from clarinet to upright bass at the age of seventeen and quickly became a sought-after voice on his instrument. McBee moved to New York in the mid-1960s and within two years had recorded landmark sessions with Wayne Shorter, Jackie McLean, Andrew Hill, and Sam Rivers. He held the bass chair in Charles Lloyd’s extraordinary quartet with Jack DeJohnette and Keith Jarrett, and has recorded seven albums as bandleader. In 1988 he received a Grammy Award for his performance on the tribute recording Blues for Coltrane, a sextet that also featured Pharoah Sanders, David Murray, McCoy Tyner, and Roy Haynes. He has recorded with Miles Davis, Yusef Lateef, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, and Joanne Brackeen, among others.

Friday, November 15
7 pm*

Saturday, November 16 (Sold out)
4 pm

Tickets are required ($25 adults; $18 members, students, seniors, and visitors with a disability) and include Museum admission. 

*Tickets for performances during Pay-What-You-Wish hours (Fridays, 7–10 pm) will be distributed day-of, on a first come, first served basis at the Museum starting at 7 pm.

See all performances from the Jazz on A High Floor in the Afternoon series.