Cecil McBee
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Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American post-bop jazz bassist.
McBee was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After studying to be a music teacher he began his musical career conducting a military band. In 1959 he played with Dinah Washington, and in 1963 joined Paul Winter's folk-rock group. His jazz career began in earnest in the mid-1960s, when he began playing and recording with Miles Davis, Andrew Hill, Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd, Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III, Sam Rivers, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, and others. He has continued to record and play with many musicians in the first rank of jazz, and has also led his own groups. McBee himself is often ranked with bassists of the calibre of Jimmy Blanton, Charles Mingus, and Oscar Pettiford.
His albums as a leader include Flying Out (1982) and Unspoken (1996).