Daily Dose OF Jazz…

Quinten H. “Rocky” White Jr. was born in 1952 in Hays, Texas near San Marcos. When he was a child, the family moved to Houston. Graduating from San Jacinto High School, where he began playing drums, he attended Texas Southern University and played in the school jazz band. In 1970 he married his high school sweetheart, Erma Green.

While at TSU he met Barrie Hall, who in 1973 joined the Ellington orchestra. It was about a month later that Ellington told Hall he needed another drummer and asked if he knew of one and he recommended Rocky. Joining the orchestra in the summer of 1973, he was one of the last musicians that Ellington hired before he died in 1974.

Drummer Quinten “Rocky” White Jr., whose last appearance with the orchestra was a performance of sacred music in 2007 at Williams Trace Baptist Church,  died from cancer on June 4, 2008 in Houston. He was 56.

More Posts: ,,,,

© Notorious Jazz 2025