Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Chris White was born Christopher Wesley White on July 6, 1936 in Harlem, New York and grew up in Brooklyn.  He graduated in 1956 from City College of New York, and in 1968 from the Manhattan School of Music. In 1974, earning his Master of Education from the University of Massachusetts. In 1994, he did postgraduate Advanced Computer Study at Berklee College Of Music.

An occasional member of Cecil Taylor’s band in the 1950s, he is credited on the 1959 Love for Sale album. From 1960 to 1961 White accompanied Nina Simone and subsequently he joined Dizzy Gillespie’s ensemble until 1966.

He later founded the band The Jazz Survivors and was a member of the band Prism. He would go on to collaborate with Billy Taylor, Eubie Blake, Earl Hines, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, Kenny Barron, Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Billy Cobham, among others.

He recorded on album as a leader titled the Chris White Project with Cassandra Wilson, Marvin Horne, Jimmy Ponder, Grachan Moncur III, Michael Raye, Steve Nelson, Keith Copeland and Steve Kroon. He also co-led a session with Lou Caputo in 2010 on the Interface label. As a sideman he recorded with Kenny Barron, Ramsey Lewis, James Moody, Dave Pike, Lalo Schifrin and Quincy Jones.

As an educator he was a part of the creative arts and technology faculty at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.  Bassist, arranger, producer Chris White, who won the Downbeat and Playboy Readers Polls among other awards, passed away on December 2, 2014.

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