30th Anniversary Berks Bop Big Band

Wednesday, August 18 / 7:00 p.m.
30TH ANNIVERSARY BERKS BOP BIG BAND
featuring ANDREW NEU, ERIC MARIENTHAL, GERALD ALBRIGHT, EVERETTE HARP, RANDY BRECKER, RICK BRAUN, PETER NEU, SKIP SPRATT,  BRIAN BROMBERG, BOBBY LYLE, TONY MOORE, AUBREY LOGAN, GIL PARRIS, CRAIG KENNEY, TONY DESANTIS,  RANDY KAPRALICK, JEFF BUSH, DAVE CIANCI,
plus opening act TRADING FOUR
DoubleTree by Hilton Reading / Grand Ballroom
Tickets: $45 (Reserved Seating)

  • Andrew Neu
    Musical Director
  • Eric Marienthal
    Musical Director
  • Gerald Albright
  • Aubrey Logan
    Trombone

When the Berks Jazz Fest started in 1991, it was a three-day weekend festival.

Now it has grown to 10 days of high-quality entertainment throughout Berks County, featuring hundreds of concerts in venues ranging from small churches and clubs to the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading Hotel, the Santander Performing Arts Center, the Miller Center for the Arts and the Scottish Rite Cathedral.

The Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest has become one of the premier jazz festivals on the East Coast, with visitors from all over the country and across the globe as well as musicians from all genres.

To help commemorate the 30th anniversary of Berks Jazz Fest, the Berks Bop Big Band is going to put on a big concert and then some.

Bop is a style of jazz characterized by fast tempos, often dissonant triadic and chromatic chords, eccentric rhythms, intricate melodic lines punctuated by pop tune phrases, instrumental virtuosity and improvisation based on the combination of harmonic structure and sometimes references to the melody.

It is a jazz style that emphasizes the inventiveness of the musicians, which is precisely why this concert should be an incandescent listening experience for the audience – amplified by a big band of awesome artists.

Highly acclaimed members of the 30th Anniversary Bop Big Band are:

Andrew Neu, tenor sax

Eric Marienthal, alto sax

Gerald Albright, alto sax

Everette Harp, tenor sax

Skip Spratt, bari sax

Randy Brecker, trumpet

Rick Braun, trumpet

Peter Neu, trumpet

Craig Kenney, trumpet

Tony DeSantis, trumpet

Aubrey Logan, trombone

Randy Kapralick, trombone

Jeff Bush, trombone

Dave Cianci, bass trombone

Brian Bromberg, bass

Bobby Lyle, piano

Tony Moore, drums

Gil Parris, guitar