A true renaissance man, Christian McBride is an 8-time Grammy® Award winning bassist/composer and advocate for jazz and American music. A native of Philadelphia, Christian went to high school with Joey DeFrancesco, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Questlove and the members of Boyz II Men. Since his arrival on the NYC jazz scene in the early ‘90s, Christian has recorded on over 300 dates as a sideman, as well as being a leader of his own groups, including Tip City, the Christian McBride Trio, The Christian McBride Big Band, The New Jawn and others. He’s recorded 20 albums as a leader for prestigious labels like Verve, Warner Bros and Mack Avenue. In addition to various stints with Sting, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard and George Duke, Christian has been artist-in-residence and artistic director with organizations such as Jazz House Kids, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Jazz Museum in Harlem, Jazz Aspen and NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center — Newark). Winner of the Bruce Lundvall Visionary Award in 2017, Christian is currently the artistic director of the historic Newport Jazz Festival, where he replaced the iconic George Wein. In addition, Christian hosts “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on Sirius/XM, is the host for NPR’s nationally syndicated show “Jazz Night in America,” and DJs at clubs spinning jazz, soul and R&B as DJ Brother Mister. To paraphrase his hero James Brown’s moniker, Christian may be “The Hardest Working Man in Jazz.” In addition to being a host of The Jazz Cruise ’25, Christian will present and play with the Jazz House Kids All-Stars.