Michael White (violinist)
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Michael Walter White (b. 24 May 1933) is an American jazz violinist.
White was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Oakland, California, taking up the violin when he was nine years old. He first became known in 1965 when he played with the John Handy Quintet at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and recorded three albums with Handy. White was among the first to play the violin in avant-garde jazz, and in the late 1960s became one of the first jazz violinists to play jazz rock fusion (with his band Fourth Way). He has played with musicians such as Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, Prince Lasha, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Eric Dolphy, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Dorham, Joe Henderson, and Richard Davis.
White now lives in San Francisco, California. After a long period of obscurity, in the mid 1990s he was involved in a reunion of the Handy Quintet, and recorded an album as co-leader with Bill Frisell, Motion Picture (1997).
[edit] Discography
- 1969: The Fourth Way (Capitol)
- 1970: Werewolf (with The Fourth Way, Capitol)
- 1970: The Sun and Moon Have Come Together (with The Fourth Way, Capitol)
- 1971: Spirit Dance (Impulse!)
- 1972: Pneuma (Impulse!)
- 1973: The Land of Spirit and Light (Impulse!)
- 1974: Father Music, Mother Dance (Impulse!)
- 1974: Go with the Flow (Impulse!)
- 1978: The X Factor (Elektra)
- 1979: White Night (Elektra)
- 1997: Motion Picture (Intuition)
[edit] Sources and external links
- Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
- Michael White — biography by Scott Yanow for AllMusic
- Michael White — biography at World Music Central
