Clarinetist, scholar, and culture-bearer Dr. Michael White is one of the foremost authorities on traditional New Orleans jazz — a musician whose playing connects directly to the city's earliest jazz clarinetists and whose scholarship has documented and preserved that tradition for future generations.
Biography
White grew up in New Orleans surrounded by jazz history, playing with musicians who had known King Oliver and Kid Ory. He formed the Original Liberty Jazz Band in 1981 and has led it ever since, playing the traditional jazz repertoire with an authenticity rooted in deep knowledge of the music's history. His post-Katrina album Blue Crescent is considered one of the finest recordings in the traditional jazz canon — a document of the tradition's resilience and of one musician's extraordinary gifts. He holds an endowed chair in New Orleans music at Xavier University.
Discography
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