Christian McBride plus Dave Stryker Quartet featuring Warren Wolf

WRTI 90.1 FM presents Two Great Shows for One Great Price!

Berks Jazz Fest fans of swinging traditional jazz will be treated to two great concerts -- for one great price -- when Christian McBride and Dave Stryker take the stage at the Miller Center for the Arts.

The Dave Stryker Quartet featuring Warren Wolf show starts at 6:00 p.m.; Christian McBride and his band will follow after intermission.

Born in Philadelphia in 1972, bassist Christian McBride moved to New York to pursue classical bass at the Juilliard School. But he soon found himself on the road with saxophonist Bobby Watson’s band, Horizon, and never looked back.

McBride spent 10 years finding his voice as a jazz musician, performing on hundreds of recording sessions and gigs with top-flight artists. By 2000, he started the Christian McBride Band, which music writer Alan Leeds called “one of the most intoxicating, least predictable bands on the scene today.”

Currently, McBride leads five groups: Inside Straight (with saxman Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, pianist Peter Martin and drummer Carl Allen); a trio (with pianist Christian Sands and drummer Jerome Jennings); his 18-piece big band; A Christian McBride Situation (an experimental group including turntablists DJ Logic and Jahi Sundance); and the New Jawn (with trumpeter Josh Evans, saxist Marcus Strickland and drummer Nasheet Waits).

The eight-time Grammy winner has released 19 albums, including the latest, “Prime” (1923) by his New Jawn.

McBride’s composition, “The Movement, Revisited” (1998) a suite for big band, four actors and a gospel choir, was dedicated to Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as part of his commitment to education and advocacy. He also works with Jazz House Kids, a community arts organization dedicated to educating children through jazz, founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker.

McBride hosts and produces "The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America,” a weekly radio collaboration among WBGO, NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, highlighting outstanding live jazz.

Guitarist Dave Stryker, a Nebraska native who moved to New York City in 1980 to break into the jazz scene, has been called “one of the most distinctive guitarists to come along in recent years” by the Village Voice.

Stryker’s first break was touring with organist Jack McDuff’s band for two years, on the road and in a weekly gig at Dude’s Lounge in Harlem. There he met legendary saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, who invited him to join his quintet, and play with greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard. He was part of the quintet for 10 years and continued to work with Turrentine until 2000.

Stryker went on to release 35 albums as a leader, including his latest, “Prime” (2023) with the Dave Stryker Trio. He has played as a sideman on countless recordings, and has performed with James Moody, Jimmy Smith, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Heath, Kevin Mahogany, Eliane Elias, Joe Lovano, Steve Slagle and many others.

As a composer, Stryker has recorded and published more than 150 of his own compositions and has published “The Dave Stryker Songbook” with most of his originals. Turrentine recorded Stryker’s tune, “Sidesteppin’.”

Stryker’s Trio opened for Steely Dan’s 2022 summer tour, “Earth After Hours.”

Baltimore native Warren Wolf began learning vibraphone, marimba, drums and piano at age 3 from his father (Warren Wolf Sr.).

After studying at the Peabody Institute’s prep program and the Baltimore School for the Arts, Wolf studied jazz vibraphone with Dave Samuels (seven semesters) and Ed Saindon (one semester) at the Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2001.

During his time at Berklee and after, he was active in the Boston jazz scene, working as a drummer at Wally’s Café and leading a band with trumpeter Jason Palmer. In 2003, he became an instructor in Berklee’s percussion department.

Since returning to Baltimore in 2005, Wolf has built a reputation as a “lion” on the international jazz circuit, including touring with Christian McBride’s Inside Straight and his own group, Wolfpack. His sixth album, “Chano Pozo: Origins,” was released in 2023.

Find the artists online: Christian McBride(opens in a new tab) Dave Stryker(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab) Warren Wolf(opens in a new tab)