Michael White (clarinetist)

Michael White
Michael White at the 2007 Satchmofest
Background information
Born	(1954-11-29) November 29, 1954 (age 62) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, dixieland
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 29 November 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer, jazz historian and musical educator. Scott Yanow, a jazz critic, said in a review that White "displays the feel and spirit of the best New Orleans clarinetists."

White is a classically trained musician who began his jazz musical career as a teenager playing for Doc Paulin's Brass Band in New Orleans. He was a member of an incarnation of the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band, established by banjoist Danny Barker. He was discovered by Kid Sheik Colar, who heard him performing in Jackson Square in the French Quarter. White began working regularly with Colar. White can be heard on the 1989 album The Majesty of the Blues by Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis appears on White's 1990 album Crescent City Serenade with Wendell Brunious and Walter Payton.

Since 1979 White has played in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band, founded by clarinetist John Casimir sometime in the 1940s. During the 1980s he led a band called The New Orleans Hot Seven. Performing "A Tribute to Jelly Roll Morton" in concert with them at the Lincoln Center in New York City in 1989 led to a favorable review by Jon Pareles in the New York Times. On May 25, 2004, a selection from White's album Dancing in the Sky ("Algiers Hoodoo Woman") was broadcast on NPR's All Songs Considered.The Dancing in the Sky album is mostly original compositions by White.