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Bassist Christian McBride, the artist-in-residence of this year's 35th annual Tri-C JazzFest, will be playing his concerts tonight and Saturday with a borrowed bow because officials from TSA confiscated his during an inspection at the Newark Airport prior to a trip to Canada last week.

(Courtesy of Christian McBride)

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Christian McBride, the artist-in-residence with the Tri-C JazzFest, will be playing Thursday night and for the next few days with a borrowed bow, thanks to the Transportation Security Administration's Newark, New Jersey, office.

McBride's carbon fiber bow, which he'd had only three months, was removed from the case during an inspection as he was preparing to fly last weekend to Saskatoon, Canada, for a gig.

"There was no protocol, no correspondence,'' McBride said in a phone call after receiving the borrowed bow from former Cleveland Orchestra principal double bassist Lawrence Angell. "There was just the usual note that they leave inside, 'We checked your luggage.'

"I haven't been able to get anyone on the phone for the past four days,'' said McBride, a three-time Grammy winner who will play in a show at Playhouse Square's Ohio Theatre at 7 p.m. Thursday with the Sean Jones Quartet and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra. McBride's Christian McBride Trio plays the venue at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, the final day of the 35th annual Tri-C JazzFest, and its first-ever summertime incarnation.

A spokeswoman for TSA's national office said the bow might have been "accidentally separated'' from the instrument during inspection. After hearing details of the case, she promised to call the Newark branch and see if there was a way to "reunite the passenger with the bow.''

TSA's website addresses travel with musical instruments, and suggests that musicians remain with their instrument during the inspection.

"You can't do that at certain airports,'' McBride countered. "At Newark Airport Terminal C, the TSA inspection office is not where the check-in is.''

As for why the bow was taken, McBride has a theory . . . and a question.

"There's a new directive to crack down on the international transport of ivory and exotic woods,'' said McBride. "The thing is, my bow wasn't wood. It's carbon fiber, so I'm not quite sure why they picked it up.''

A bow is not just a bow, McBride said. It's really an extension – literally, figuratively and creatively – of the artist wielding it. And a good one can cost as much as $1,000.

"In the past, they have been made of exotic wood and ivory and different types of horsehair, and they're usually very old,'' McBride said. "That combination of the wood on the instrument, the strings and the bow creates a certain sound. That's a very personal sound.''

He likened it to a singer preferring a certain style of microphone, or even a police officer having a penchant for a particular firearm.

McBride said he's not the first musician who's had to endure this sort of thing.

"I've heard from a few musicians who, when it happened to them, they've quietly had it returned to them via mail,'' he said. "In some cases, [it's returned] in two weeks, some cases two months.''

But since his bow – as most bows – didn't have his name and address stamped on it, he had a good question, even if TSA does locate it:

"How are they going to find me?''