By Kenya
Yarbrough
*Jazz guitarist
Mark Whitfield may be considered a veteran of traditional jazz guitarist licks,
but the six-string strummer has introduced an innovative sound to the genre.
Whitfield is one of the world’s most respected jazz guitarists, but apparently
15 years of awing jazz fans is just the beginning.
The trained
musician, who has built a major following, has now shed some of his jazz
conventionality and amassed a quintet of up-and-coming jazz stars who have no
fear of walking on the edge of music genres. They are Panther and the
self-titled new disc is musically ferocious.
What would cause
a well-renowned, well respected jazz idol to tamper with a successful formula
of energized yet traditional jazzy fretwork? Would you believe, a slight case of tedium after 15 years of stardom?
“I made my first
record in 1990 for Warner Bros. called ‘The Marksmen,’” Whitfield reminisced.
“I’ve been recording ever since.” The guitarist had been considered a pretty
accomplished bassist by age 10, and was recruited by Berklee College of Music
before he was even halfway done with high school. “I then started touring
with Jimmy Smith and Jack McDuff, people
like that, right out of school.”
In the
beginning, perhaps it was nurture? After all, Whitfield grew up in a house of
jazz.
“My parents are
huge jazz fans. So when I was six, seven years old, they were taking me to
concerts in the early 70s. I got to see the Duke Ellington Orchestra with Duke
leading the orchestra; I saw Count Basie lead his ensemble; I saw Ella
Fitzgerald. I had the benefit of seeing a lot of great music. There are no
other musicians in my family, but a lot of great appreciators of music,” he
said.
Or perhaps it
was nature.
“I started
playing instruments as a hobby and I found that I had a knack for picking up
instruments quickly,” Whitfield asserted. “One thing led to the next and I
ended up at the Berklee School of Music in Boston
and that was the beginning of everything.”
Whitfield
considered George Benson his childhood hero, and met the jazz guitarist great
when he graduated from Berklee and was fortunate to be in his tutelage. “He
opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities,” Whitfield said, in
addition to the fact the Benson led him to a recording contract with Warner
Bros. But, the shooting star didn’t really have his eyes set on anything
greater than becoming a working jazz guitarist.
“I just thought
I’d work and keep developing into something I could do for the rest of my life.
I may have to live modestly, but I would enjoy it and it would be spiritually
fulfilling. Then I got married and had a couple of kids and all of a sudden
spiritually fulfilling became something else,” he joked.
“I sold some
records, and did pretty well and enjoyed a pretty good run of industry success
with straight-ahead acoustic jazz music. By that time I’d been doing it almost
15 years, and I was ready for a change. I think that’s what happens to every
creative musician after a while. I mean,
just because you have a fan base and people really dig what you’re doing,
doesn’t mean you don’t get bored,”
His creativity
was sparked by some very avant-garde musicians. He spent time with Herbie
Hancock and hung out with Miles Davis and witnessed the energy these legends
put into their newer music.
“I mean, how long
do you really expect Miles Davis to play ‘My Funny Valentine?’ He had been
playing it for 25 years. The man wanted to play something else. I began to
understand that. His model certainly served as an inspiration for me. I started
looking for ways to bridge the gap between what I was playing – what I’d been
studying – and what was happening around me,” Whitfield explained.
“Panther is the
newest thing. It’s CD release number 13, for me. I made three for Warner, five
for Polygram under the Verve label, a couple for Herbie Hancock’s label, a
couple for an independent label in Japan. Most of my records have been straight
ahead, traditional jazz records. Along the way I’ve done a lot of real
interesting side work. I played on ‘Brown Sugar’ with D’Angelo, and ‘No More
Drama’ with Mary J. Blige.”
But Whitfield
contends that he’s always been one of those musicians that's kept his foot in
the door of a lot of other music worlds, such as R&B, contemporary Rock ‘n
Roll and progressive music.
Whitfield
explained: “I’ve always tried to draw on the inspirational qualities of other
styles of music. Finally I decided it was time to roll all of my influences
together into one musical vision and put a group together that would encompass
my musical journey. The music is called ‘alternative soul.’ The roots of the
project are undeniably soul and R&B and we color it with elements of jazz
and hip-hop and that gives the project a unique voice.”
That unique voice
began to develop about three years ago, and the vision of a funk-hip jazz sound
was finally realized. Whitfield brought together an exciting group of
musicians, singers, and songwriters. The five-piece ensemble includes
songwriter/keyboardist/vocalist Sy Smith (Brandy, Whitney Houston, Usher,
background singer for “American Idol”), vocalist/bassist Byron Moore (Chaka
Khan, Groove Theory), drummer Donald Edwards (Wynton and Ellis Marsalis,
Charlie Hunter, The Jazzy PhatNasties), and Jason Murden as
songwriter/vocalist/rhythm guitarist.
The first single,
“Always Up,” featuring Byron Moore, was received at jazz radio with much
acclaim, laced with Moore’s vocals that echo the vibes of Donny Hathaway and
Stevie Wonder. “Panther” was released earlier this year as the debut disc for
the label Dirty Soap Entertainment.
Posted: 3/8/06
Source: eurweb.com
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