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Number Two Express

album by Christian McBride

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ7069566
Source-derived summary

Number Two Express is the second studio album by the American jazz bassist Christian McBride. It was recorded in 1995 and released by Verve Records the following year. The album peaked at #23 in the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

Reception

Scott Yanow of AllMusic commented: "Continually interesting music which contains plenty of variety". Bill Kohlhaase, of the Los Angeles Times, wrote: "Bass sensation Christian McBride has followed his well-received debut album, 'Gettin' to It,' with a surprisingly modern album that shows him moving ahead in taste and ambition. While the first album focused on soulful sounds and its leader's gutbucket pluck, the new disc plunges hard ahead with smarts, sizzle and fine interplay between celebrity players including pianists Chick Corea and Kenny Barron, saxophonists Gary Bartz and Kenny Garrett, vibist Steve Nelson and drummer Jack DeJohnette (playing with Corea for the first time since their Miles Davis days). Not only has McBride's material become more sophisticated, his improvisations have also progressed a notch.

Editorial summary

“Number Two Express” enters the record as album by Christian McBride. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Number, Express and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1995—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1996. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Number, Express and album.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Number Two Express” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Number, Express and album provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7069566. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Number Two Express”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Number Two Express primary sources, Number Two Express archive and Number research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Number Two Express”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Number Two Express” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.