Michael White (clarinetist) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael White
White at the 2007 Satchmofest
Background information
Born	(1954-11-29) November 29, 1954 (age 70) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, traditional New Orleans jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, educator
Instruments	Clarinet
Labels	Basin Street, Antilles, 504
Associated acts	Doc Paulin, Kid Sheik Colar, The New Orleans Hot Seven, The Original Liberty Jazz Band, Young Tuxedo Brass Band

Michael White (born November 29, 1954) is a famous jazz clarinet player from New Orleans. He is also a bandleader, a composer, a jazz historian, and a music teacher. A jazz critic named Scott Yanow once said that Michael White plays with the same feeling and spirit as the best clarinet players from New Orleans.

Early Life and Music

Michael White grew up in New Orleans and was raised Catholic. He went to several schools for Black Catholic students in the city. These schools included Saint Francis de Sales, Holy Ghost, and St. Joan of Arc. While at St. Joan of Arc, he started learning to play the clarinet. He even played his clarinet in his very first parade.

Michael White's Career

Michael White at Algiers Riverfest, New Orleans, 2008

Michael White is a musician who was trained in classical music. He began his jazz career when he was a teenager. He played with Doc Paulin's Brass Band in New Orleans. He was also part of the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band, which was started by a banjo player named Danny Barker.

A musician named Kid Sheik Colar discovered Michael White. Colar heard him playing in Jackson Square in the French Quarter. After that, White started working regularly with Colar. You can hear Michael White playing on the 1989 album The Majesty of the Blues by Wynton Marsalis. Wynton Marsalis also played on Michael White's 1990 album, Crescent City Serenade.

Since 1979, Michael White has played in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band. This band was started by clarinet player John Casimir in the 1940s. In the 1980s, White led his own band called The New Orleans Hot Seven. In 1989, they performed a concert called "A Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton" at the Lincoln Center in New York City. A writer for The New York Times gave them a very good review.

On May 25, 2004, a song from White's album Dancing in the Sky was played on NPR's All Songs Considered. Most of the songs on the Dancing in the Sky album were written by Michael White himself.

In 1981, White started The Original Liberty Jazz Band. He created this group to help keep the musical traditions of New Orleans alive. This band has performed a special concert at the Village Vanguard every year since the early 1990s. On May 13, 2006, Michael White played the song "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" at the Tulane University graduation ceremony. Two former U.S. presidents, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, were at the ceremony. Bill Clinton said that the music was played "the way Dixieland bands have always done it. At first low, weeping, sorrowful."

Other Work and Teaching

Michael White is also a college professor. He used to teach Spanish, but now he teaches African-American music at Xavier University of Louisiana. This is a special university that has historically served Black students. At the university, he holds an important position called the Rosa and Charles Keller Endowed Chair in the Humanities of New Orleans Music and Culture.

He has also been a guest director for several Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts. These concerts often focus on traditional New Orleans jazz, and he frequently works with Wynton Marsalis on them. Michael White has also served as a commissioner for the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. This park helps preserve the history of jazz music in New Orleans.

Personal Life

In 2005, during Hurricane Katrina, Michael White was living in a home in the Gentilly area of New Orleans. This area was near the London Avenue Canal. For 30 years, White had collected many important jazz items and pieces of local history. Sadly, many of these items were lost during the flooding caused by the hurricane. He lost original sheet music by Jelly Roll Morton, a special clarinet mouthpiece that belonged to Sidney Bechet, and about 5,000 records and LPs.

Discography

Awards and Honors

Michael White has received several important awards for his contributions to music:

• 1994: Royal Norwegian Musical Medal (from Norway)
• 1995: Chevalier of Arts and Letters (from France)
• 2008: National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is the highest honor given by the United States government in folk and traditional arts.