Christian McBride brings Ursa Major to Jimmy's for two March nights

Fresh off the young quintet's debut album, the bassist plays Jimmy's Jazz and Blues Club in Portsmouth on March 12 and 13, 2027, his first Seacoast dates since 2023.

Two nights in a 350-capacity jazz club with one of the most recorded bassists of his generation and the band he calls his own. That's the Seacoast's March, sorted.

Christian McBride plays Jimmy's Jazz and Blues Club in Portsmouth on Friday, March 12, and Saturday, March 13, 2027, both nights at 7:30 p.m. Tickets run $24.75 to $108.25 through Ticketmaster, which lists the run as Christian McBride and Ursa Major (Saturday here). The dates were announced Oct. 22. They're McBride's first in the Portsmouth and Seacoast area since Nov. 2, 2023, at the Shalin Liu Performance Center.

The timing is good. Ursa Major's debut album, *Points of Light*, was set for an Oct. 30 release on Mack Avenue Records, so by March the songs will have had a few months to settle in with listeners and a few more months on the road. JamBase reported that the record was produced by Terrace Martin, with McBride as associate producer, and that the lead single is a cover of George Duke's "No Rhyme, No Reason."

The band is the hook. Ursa Major formed in 2022 as a quintet of young players around McBride's bass: saxophonist Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, pianist Mike King and drummer Savannah Harris, per No Treble. WRTI called it his "all-in" band. Reviewing a show at San Francisco's Miner Auditorium, All About Jazz suggested it might be his most exciting project yet, and singled out King's "Two Check" and Perlman's "Cows" as groovy crowd-pleasers. That review also noted the band opened that night with the Duke cover.

It's a band that's been earning that reputation on stages in big rooms and small ones. This fall it played London's Ronnie Scott's and UMass Amherst's Fine Arts Center, and it's on SFJAZZ's 2026–27 season.

Jimmy's is exactly the right scale for this. At 350 capacity, it's a club in the real sense, close enough to hear the interplay between five musicians who clearly enjoy pushing each other. A quintet built around younger players, led by someone with McBride's experience, is the kind of band that changes from night to night, and two consecutive nights give anyone who catches the first a good reason to come back for the second.

The wide price range means there's a way in for most budgets, from the back of the room to the best seats. Either way, you're closer to the stage than you'd be almost anywhere else McBride plays.

Pick a night, or take both. After more than three years, the Seacoast has some catching up to do.

Sources: Christian McBride & Ursa Major — Points of Light — Mack Avenue (mackavenue.com); Christian McBride Announces Ursa Major Debut Album & Shares George Duke Cover — JamBase (jambase.com); Christian McBride & Ursa Major Announce Debut Album, 'Points of Light' — No Treble (notreble.com); Christian McBride on his all-in band Ursa Major and a new single — WRTI (wrti.org); Ursa Major at Miner Auditorium — All About Jazz (allaboutjazz.com); Christian McBride & Ursa Major — Ronnie Scott's (ronniescotts.co.uk); Christian McBride and Ursa Major — UMass Fine Arts Center (arts.umass.edu); Christian McBride's Ursa Major — SFJAZZ (sfjazz.org); Christian McBride and Ursa Major, Portsmouth — Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com)