Dr. Michael White: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Albert Nicholas
• Bob Wilber
• Barney Bigard
• Sidney Bechet
• Alliance
• Pee Wee Russell
• Tony Scott

• Duke Ellington
• Thelonious Monk
• John Coltrane
• Sun Ra
• Eric Dolphy
• Charles Mingus
• Stephane Grappelli

• Preservation Hall Jazz Band

• Reginald Veal

Birth Name:

Michael Walter White

Born:

Oct 29, 1954 in Houston, TX

Genre:

Jazz Music

Decades Active:

1980's|1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

Medium

Cultural Impact

Medium

Popularity

Medium

Ratings Guide

The scene is the Traditional Jazz Tent at the New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival, where each year, jazz afficionados gather to hear Dr. Michael White and his Original Liberty Jazz Band, keeping the old traditions alive. Clad in the uniform of the traditonal jazz musican--white shirt and black trousers, the musicians cut an elegant figure on the stage. Then the music begins: faces light up. The listener is transported back to another time, an era when cats like Joe "King" Oliver; Jelly Roll Morton; Louis Armstrong; and Sidney Bechet ruled the Birthplace of Jazz. Dr. Michael White is in his place, doing his part to preserve the tradition.

Dr. White, who teaches Spanish and Afro-American music at the University of New Orleans, affiliated himself years back with the old line musicians, whose careers spanned the history of jazz. White sat in on clarinet as the youngest performer with musicians decades his senior at the renowned Preservation Hall. He was an apt student, with mentors like George Lewis, Sweet Emma Brown, and Chester Zardis. Assimilating the heart of the traditional jazz idiom, White has become one of its most noted authorities and enthusiastic proponents.

His shows combine great traditional jazz, freshly interpreted, and music education. White makes the music and its history come alive with stories about its creators and their times.

His clarinet also has its own story to tell, and song to sing. Drawing inspiration from the legendary George Lewis and Johnny Dodds, Dr. White plays in a similar style. His first solo recording, T'Aint Nobody's Business was made in 1984, and has been followed by a series of outstanding CD's. Notable among them are Crescent City Serenade; his Tribute to Johnny Dodds, and Song to George Lewis, both recorded in 2000.

The sweetness of his clarinet is exemplified by his rendition of the unofficial French National Anthem, Bechet's Petite Fleur, featured on White's great album, New Year's Eve Live at the Village Vanguard.

White is recognized as a gifted clarinet player and bandleader. Part of White's genius is that he surrounds himself with the best musicians in the business. His colleagues include Papa Don Vappie, Wendell Brunious, Louis Cottrell, Jr., and Steve Pistorius. Wynton Marsalis often joins in, as he did on the Village Vanguard recording. White returns the favor with guest appearances at the Lincoln Center, where Marsalis presides over things jazz. The two musicians share a passion for the early jazz music that came out of their hometown, and a deep admiration for the virtuoisity of its practitioners.

White also stands out as a composer. On his 2002 release, Jazz From the Soul of New Orleans, White drew on the flavors of this northernmost city in the Caribbean to write Martinique, and New Orleans Calypso. Always making music, Dr. White can be counted upon to provide a living link between the past glory of New Orleans' traditonal jazz, and its vibrant place in the present.

- Rose of Sharon Witmer

, All Music Guide