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Vol. LXIII, No. 5
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 5
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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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Drummer Lenny White, whose styles include jazz, rock, funk, and fusion, will perform in concert on Friday, February 13, at 7:30 p.m., in the Princeton Regional School’s Performing Arts Center.
The concert is part of Princeton Celebrates Black History Month, a community-wide celebration during the month of February, presented by the Princeton Regional Schools in partnership with the Princeton Public Library, the Arts Council, the YMCA, and the Racial Justice Institute of the Princeton-Trenton YWCA. This year’s celebration will highlight the development of jazz, and the contributions of African Americans to this eclectic musical tradition. It will conclude with a three-day residency by jazz musician Wycliffe Gordon, who will work with school children throughout the district, and perform in a fund-raising concert on February 28. Proceeds from the concert will help rebuild the Carver High School in New Orleans.
Seasoned Drummer
Fifty-nine year-old Lenny White, is a highly regarded innovator of jazz-rock/funk and fusion. The beginnings of fusion can be found in the late 1960s, when jazz musicians began mixing the forms and improvisational techniques of jazz with the electric instruments of rock and the rhythms of soul and rhythm and blues. At the same time, some rock artists began adding jazz elements to their music. This experimentation gave birth to “fusion” or, more specifically, “jazz fusion” or “jazz-rock,” a musical genre that merges jazz with elements of other styles of music. Fusion merges funk, rock, R&B, ska, electronic, and world music, but also pop, classical, and folk music, or sometimes metal, reggae, country and hip hop. Fusion albums, even those that are made by the same group or artist, may include a variety of styles.
Born in New York City, Mr. White is a self-taught, left-handed drummer, who happened to have learned on a right-handed kit. He began his career in local groups, playing regularly with Jackie McLean in the late 1960s. His first recording was with Miles Davis on the historic album, Bitches Brew. He played with Freddie Hubbard and recorded another classic, Red Clay, in 1970. White played with both Return to Forever (RTF) and Azteca in 1972, before settling in full time with RTF, which included pianist Chick Corea, bassist Stanley Clarke, and guitarist Al di Meola. It started out as a Latin-flavored jazz group, evolving into a jazz-rock hybrid. The band won a Grammy for its 1975 album No Mystery, and in 1976, Romantic Warrior went gold and was their biggest seller. The band split up in 1977, but its highly successful 2008 reunion tour brought jazz-rock and fusion back into the spotlight, and the band has played to sell out audiences this past year all over the world.
In the year’s following RTF’s break-up, Mr. White signed with the Nemperor label (via Atlantic) and recorded two albums as leader. In 1978, he switched to Elektra for his album, Best of Friends, before forming the group Twennynine in 1979, with Carlo Vaughn (vocals), Jocelyn Smith (vocals), Skip Anderson (keyboards), Barry Johnson (bass), and Eddy Martinez (guitar). He later became one of the Jamaica Boys, a group that included Marcus Miller (bass) and Dinky Bingham (vocals). He also worked with the groups Echoes of an Era and Griffith Park.
The important jazz musicians Mr. White has played with include Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Jaco Pastorius, and Stan Getz. In recognition of his achievements as a drummer, Istanbul Agop released a new 22-inch Lenny White Signature Ride cymbal in 2008. It was developed as a collaboration with Mr. White, master Cymbalsmiths in Istanbul, and Istanbul Agop’s product specialists in the United States. According to White, the ride is a replica of Tony Williams’ ride cymbal in the Miles Davis song, “Nefertiti.” The cymbal is made of B20 bronze, and features unique hammering and lathing techniques which give the cymbal a dark, dry sound.
The February 13 concert will be Mr. White’s only appearance in the region before his European tour in March.
For more information about the Lenny White and Friends in Concert or the Wycliffe Gordon Jazz Quartet benefit concert, see www.prspac.org, or call PRSPAC at (609) 806-4300.