RnR: Rick Braun & Richard Elliot with Peter White

Allentown native Rick Braun has shared his stunning trumpet and flugelhorn stylings and his impressive vocals at nearly every Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest.

Braun began developing his jazz chops as part of a jazz-fusion band at the Eastman School of Music in the 1970s. After graduating he entered the pop world as a singer and a successful songwriter for other artists. Then, returning to the trumpet, he worked as a session and touring musician with Natalie Cole, Sade, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, War, and others.

Braun has collaborated on massive hits with Boney James, as a member of RnR with saxophonist Richard Elliot, and with BWB, a powerhouse trio with Grammy winners Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown His debut album as a soloist, “Intimate Secrets” (1992) launched him as a band leader, and he released his 19th, “Rick Braun” in 2022.

Scottish-born saxophonist Richard Elliot moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was 3, and he was soon beguiled by R&B and Motown -- and especially by the late, legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon, who inspired him to take up the instrument.

He started as a member of the jazz/rock band KittyHawk, then Tower of Power during the 1980s in San Francisco Bay Area. He was a member of The Yellowjackets, and participated in the “Groovin’ for Grover” concert series with Paul Taylor and Gerald Albright, in memory of the late Grover Washington Jr.

His debut solo album was “Trolltown” (1986), the first of 20, most recently “Authentic Life” (2021), which features Rick Braun.

Guitarist Peter White, born and raised in a musical family near London, U.K., learned clarinet, trombone, violin, and piano from his father, who taught all four of his children various musical instruments and had them perform in the area.

White began his professional career playing the piano with Al Stewart. By that time, he had mastered guitar and preferred playing it, but Stewart already had a guitarist and needed a keyboard player. He spent 20 years with that band, cowriting many songs with Stewart.

White has also performed with his brother Danny, a pianist and songwriter, on tour and in recordings with the Polish singer Basia. He launched his solo recording career in 1991 with the album “Reveillez-Vous,” and has since recorded many more, most recently “Groovin’” (2016) and “Music for Starlux Airlines” (2019).

In 2003 he established the popular “Peter White Christmas Tour,” resulting in the album “A Peter White Christmas” (2007). The tour visited Reading many times, presented by Berks Arts, most recently in 2019.