Dr. Michael White • Live

Doctor Michael White liveOf all of the New Orleans players associated with Wynton Marsalis, clarinetist Dr. Michael White has been the most consistently involved in playing traditional New Orleans jazz. A fixture in New Orleans for over 30 years, his clarinet playing is touched by Johnny Dodds, George Lewis, and other early players without sounding like an exact copy of any of them.

On this set from May 5, 2017, White performs five spirited numbers with trumpeter Gregory Stafford, banjoist Seva Venet, bassist Mark Brooks, and drummer Jason Marsalis. Starting with a rollicking “Canal Street Blues” and including an emotional “Summertime” along with three originals that are very much in the tradition, White and his musicians show the audience a great time.

jazzaffair

Stafford contributes a couple of vocals and there are plenty of fine solos but it is the many ensembles that are most memorable. Fun music.

Doctor Michael White Live
(Basin Street BSR 0508, 5 selections, TT = 39:24)
www.basinstreetrecords.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.

Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.

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