Christian McBride

Warren Wolf, vibraphone
Anthony Wonsey, piano
John Lamkin, drums
Special Guest Christian McBride, bass

$25 general/$15 students

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Christian McBride
The finest musicians to spring from the world of jazz have clearly had an advantage when it comes to branching into other genres of music. Their mastery of composition, arranging and sight reading coupled with their flair for improvisation and spontaneous creation make them possibly the most seasoned and adaptable musicians in the art. Grammy Award winner Christian McBride, chameleonic virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass, stands tall at the top of this clique. Beginning in 1989 – the beginning of an amazing career in which he still has wider-reaching goals to attain - the Philadelphian has thus far been first-call-requested to accompany literally hundreds of fine artists, ranging in an impressive array from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen Battle and Diana Krall. However, it is his own recordings – albums that encompass a diverse canon of original compositions and imaginatively arranged covers – that reveal the totality of his musicianship. He currently leads one of the hottest bands in music - the propulsive Christian McBride Band (saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Terreon Gully).

The most awe-inspiring thing about Christian McBride is that his prowess as a player is only half of what makes him such a respected, in-demand and mind-bogglingly busy individual. The portrait is completed by a mere mid-thirty-something man who carved out time to speak at former President Clinton’s town hall meeting on “Racism in the Performing Arts.” He holds Artistic Director posts at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program and the Dave Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. McBride participated in a Stanford University panel on “Black Performing Arts in Mainstream America.” He’s hosted insightful one-on-one “jazz chats” in Cyberspace on Sonicnet.com. He also scribed the foreword for pianist Jonny King’s book, What Jazz Is (Walker & Co., New York).

2005 witnessed his adding two more prestigious appointments to his resume. In January, he was named co-director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem. While assisting Leonard Garment and Loren Schoenberg in obtaining government grants and the participation of top flight historians/musicians, Christian will be focusing on a longtime concern: exposing jazz to young people.

“To a degree, jazz is non-existent in most major urban communities, which deeply saddens me,” McBride states. “Kids don't understand who our jazz greats were. My contribution towards rectifying this will be getting them to check out free events at the museum by inviting jazz and non-jazz musicians, athletes and speakers that they can relate to.”

While working for the museum in Harlem, McBride will be racking up frequent flyer miles as Creative Chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, giving him a degree of influence over commercial and educational programs at the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall. The position is being passed on to him by singer Dianne Reeves who held it for the last three years.

Naturally, there will be more collaborations and sideman gigs, which he scrutinizes extra carefully now due to his schedule. Most importantly, he will continue to lead the Christian McBride Band which, together with special guests, has recorded this live album for ropeadope. This album, ever revolutionary as only McBride would have it, was compiled from two nights – two shows apiece – recorded at the Manhattan/East Village hot spot, Tonic. A kinetic concert spirit was captured with both college students and hip hoppers in the crowd, resulting in a perfect atmosphere for experimentation. The first set each night featured just the band, but for the second sets, specials guests blessed the stage; DJ Logic, Scratch (The Roots), guitarists Charlie Hunter and Eric Krasno (Soulive), pianist Jason Moran, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and violinist Jenny Scheinman (Bill Frisell).

Addressing how he manages to effectively keep his hands in so many exciting though daunting projects, Christian states, “I’ve always believed in the art of working with people. I feel you can always compensate for whatever skills you don't have just learning how to get along with - and communicate with - people. Herbie Hancock is a master of that…and Quincy Jones is the ultimate master. The first time I met him, he hugged me then said, ‘I saw Ray Brown a couple of nights ago and told him we would be working together.’ I didn't know he knew who I was - the contractor called me for the gig! Q studies people and figures out what to do with them like a great basketball coach.”

Christian McBride was born on May 31, 1972 in Philadelphia. Electric bass was Christian's first instrument, which he began playing at age 9, followed by acoustic bass two years later. His first mentors on the instrument were his father, Lee Smith (a renowned bassist in Philly) and his great uncle, Howard Cooper (a disciple of the jazz avant-garde). While intensely studying classical music, Christian's love for jazz also blossomed. Upon his 1989 graduation from Philadelphia's fertile High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (C.A.P.A.), Christian was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York City to study with the legendary bassist, Homer Mensch. That summer, before making the move to the Big Apple, the already in-demand bassist got his first taste of touring going to Europe with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and traveling the U.S. with the classical jazz fusion group, Free Flight.

McBride never had a chance to settle into his Juilliard studies. Within the first two weeks of the semester, he joined saxophonist Bobby Watson's band, Horizon. He also started working around New York at clubs such as Bradley's and the Village Gate with John Hicks, Kenny Barron, Larry Willis and Gary Bartz. After one year at Juilliard, McBride made a critical decision to leave school to tour with trumpeter Roy Hargrove's first band, electing "experience with as many musicians as possible" as the best teacher. In August of 1990, he landed a coveted position in trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's band until January of 1993.

In 1991, legendary bassist Ray Brown invited the young wunderkind to join him and John Clayton in the trio SuperBass. After being hailed “Hot Jazz Artist” of 1992 by Rolling Stone, Christian continued to prove it as a member of guitarist Pat Metheny's "Special Quartet," which included drum master Billy Higgins and saxophonist Joshua Redman. While recording and touring with Redman the following year, McBride signed to Verve Records in the summer of 1994, recording his first CD as a leader, Gettin' to It. He also graced the big screen playing bass in director Robert Altman's 1940's period piece, Kansas City (1996).

Christian recorded three more career-shaping albums at Verve: Number Two Express (1996), the soul-jazz fusion project A Family Affair (1998 – featuring Christian’s first two songs as a lyricist), and the critically acclaimed SCI-FI (2000), marking the inaugural execution of Christian’s concept of music being boundless by genre. The following year, he continued to expand his audience with two endeavors. He dipped into hip hop with a side project dubbed The Philadelphia Experiment, a “jam band”-inspired CD that reunited Christian with his high school friend, drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson (leader of The Roots) and featured keyboardist Uri Caine and guitarist Pat Martino.

Later that year, pop star Sting invited Christian to become a key figure in his 2001 All This Time CD, DVD and tour. Then in 2002, Christian supported George Duke by becoming a member of his band and recording on his landmark album Face the Music: the legendary keyboardist’s first album on his own recording label, BPM. “Christian is a monster on that bass,” Duke states with pride. “It isn’t often these days to find a young musician so dedicated to his craft. Christian is my kind of musician, one that is open to new ideas, good at playing different styles, reads music prolifically and is dedicated to furthering the growth of music not only as a musician, but as a young representative of his profession. There isn’t anyone better. And besides that, he’s a great cat!”

In 2003, Christian released one album on Warner Bros. Records titled Vertical Vision, a blazing recording that introduced the current incarnation of the Christian McBride Band. Over the years, McBride has been featured on hundreds of albums, touring and/or recording with artists such as David Sanborn, Chick Corea, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, George Benson, and the late greats Joe Henderson, Betty Carter and Milt Jackson. He also undertook his first pop Musical Directorship at the helm of a Christmas show featuring gospel royalty BeBe Winans and pop star Carly Simon. The event marked stage-shy Simon’ first New York concert appearance in a decade and she expressly insisted that only McBride could be her MD.

Finally, as a composer, Christian has achieved several high watermarks. Among them is a commission from Jazz at Lincoln Center to compose "Bluesin' in Alphabet City," performed by Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. And in 1998, the Portland (ME) Arts Society and the National Endowment for the Arts awarded McBride with a commission to write "The Movement, Revisited," Christian's dramatic musical portrait of the civil rights struggle of the 1960's written and arranged for quartet and a 30-piece gospel choir.

There have been very few artists who truly embody the genuine, heart-felt passion for music in all areas as has Christian McBride. By boldly continuing to leave his mark in areas of musical performance, composition, education and advocacy, he is destined to be a force in music for decades to come.

Warren Wolf
Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist who lives in Baltimore. Since a very young age, Warren has been playing many different instruments which include the vibraphone/marimba,drumset/percussion,and the piano/keyboards. As a youth, Warren attended the Peabody Preparatory of The John Hopkins Institute in Baltimore,MD where he studied with former Baltimore Symphony Member Leo LePage.While at Peabody, Warren played many popular styles of music which included Classical,Jazz,and Ragtime. Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist who lives in Baltimore,MD.From a very young age until present time, Warren plays many different instruments which include the vibraphone/marimba,drumset/percussion,and the piano/keyboards. As a youth, Warren attended the Peabody Preparatory of The John Hopkins Institute in Baltimore,MD where he studied with former Baltimore Symphony Member Leo LePage.While at Peabody, Warren played many popular styles of music which included Classical,Jazz,and Ragtime.

After graduating from The Baltimore School for the Arts in the spring of 1997,Warren headed north and enrolled at Berklee College of Music. At Berklee,Warren studied with Caribbean Jazz Project Vibist Dave Samuels. While he studied at Berklee he began to experiment with many different music styles, outside of jazz and classical, such as hip-hop,r&b,drum-n-bass,funk,rock,gospel,world music, Latin and many others.

During his time at Berklee,Warren had the opportunity to play at the legendary jazz club Wally’s Café to help “get his foot in the door“. After years of training at Berklee and sitting in with musicians at Wallys,Warren landed the weekend gig at the club for the next three years………but playing drums, not the vibraphone. Warren co-led a quintet with trumpeter Jason Palmer at Wally’s.

Being at Berklee Warren had the chance to play and record with many of the worlds best musicians. Some musicians include;Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Nicholas Payton,Mulgrew Miller, Lewis Nash, Christian McBride,Terri-Lyne Carrington, Bobby Watson, Roy Hanynes,Danilo Perez, and many others.

Warren had recorded two records as a leader. INCREDIBLE JAZZ VIBES was recorded on the Japanese label M & I Records. That record features Mulgrew Miller on piano alongside Vicente Archer on Bass and Kendrick Scott on Drums. The other recording is entitled RAW. On that record date, Warren performs on both the vibraphone and drumset.That record features musicians such as Darren Barrett on Trumpet, Walter Smith on Tenor Saxophone, Lawrence Fields on Piano and a host of others.Warren can also be heard on recordings by drummer Adonis Rose(On The Verge-CRISSCROSS),trumpeter Jeremy Pelt(Identity-(MAXJAZZ),and the new Bobby Watson Group “Live & Learn”(From The Heart-Palmetto Records)which features Harold O’Neal on Piano, Curtis Lundy on Bass, Quincy Davis on Drums and Leron Thomas on Trumpet.

Anthony Wonsey

Anthony Wonsey a premier jazz pianist, composer, recording artist and educator. He has recorded and toured with such jazz luminaries as Elvin Jones, Pharoah Sanders, Kenny Garret, Wallace Roney, George Coleman, Clark Terry, Nicholas Payton, Christian Mcbride and Freddie Hubbard. With over 50 recordings including six as a leader to his name, Anthony Wonsey is clearly one of today's leading voices of the Jazz Piano.

In addition, he is also active as an educator, both as a clinician and private instructor. He has taught several students at the New School in New York City, The Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria. Anthony also has extensive experience working with Jazz vocalists Nina Freelan, Carmen Lundy and Betty Carter.

He is now available for private and group instruction in jazz improvisation, jazz ensemble coaching as well as jazz vocal accompaniment and ear training.

"Anthony Wonsey is one of the finest up and coming young pianists out here today" -- Freddie Hubbard

"One of the best young piano players out there." -- Mulgrew Miller

"Swingin!" -- Louis Hayes

John Lamkin
John Russell Lamkin, III is a native of Baltimore Maryland. He began playing drums at the tender age of four. His father, John R Lamkin, II, (a well respected trumpeter in the greater Baltimore /Washington area), noticed the talent of his young son and began encouraging him to develop his natural abilities. So he grew up listening to the legendary sounds of Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Steve Gadd Dennis Chambers, Harvey Mason, Jeff Tain Watts, Lewis Nash, Jimmy Cobb,Stewart Copeland, Dave Weckel, Billy Cobham, Elvin Jones and others who all heavily influenced his style and commitment to the music. With both his parents as role models, John found himself attending The Manhattan School of Music in New York City and later, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

While Living in Boston, Lamkin has been recognized by, played and recorded with a number of exceptionally talented recording artists. Among them have been alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, bassist Michael Henderson, alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Christian Scott, pianist Danilo Perez, smooth jazz saxophonist Najee, vocalist Jean Carne, vocalist Nnenna Freelon, pianist Mulgrew Miller, trumpeter Terrence Blanchard, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Christian McBride, R&B vocalist Jon B, pianist Chick Corea, the late great Lionel Hampton, Living legends Abbey Lincoln, Ruth Brown, Cuba Gooding Sr., Curtis Fuller and Benny Golson. Now at the age of 38, a graduate of Berklee College of Music, Lamkin finds himself at the threshold of his career. He maintains however, a deep respect and appreciation of those who've set standards in the music world.