Walter White

About Walter

“Walter White has emerged with a personal voice on both trumpet and flugelhorn. his playing is darkly incantatory, furiously intense, risk-laden, harmonically astute, rhythmically free, with roiling passion tempering a sharp intellect. His bands play solid originals and his own exciting arrangements from both the standard jazz and classical literature.” -Charlie Hunt, Detroit Free Press

White serves as leader of the Walter White Jazz Quartet and the Walter White Big Band. His newest album, BB XL, released on Aug. 28, 2020, features an all-star band and new arrangements of standards and originals. BB XL is currently in the top 40 on the national JazzWeek charts (Dec 2020). The album, Breaking Good, by Walter White & Small Medium @ Large, received substantial national radio play and reached into the top 20 on the JazzWeek charts, while his last jazz quartet recording, Most Triumphant, stayed in the top-50 for over ten weeks.

White is a Yamaha Artist & Clinician and is Brand Ambassador for Robinson’s Remedies Lip Renew, a revolutionary lip product that enhances trumpet, brass, and wind instrument performance. White stays active as an educator, teaching privately and holding master classes and clinics across the country, and abroad* (*temporarily mostly on-line). Most recently, White was the Virtual Guest Artist-In-Residence with the Rutger’s University Jazz Program, directed by Conrad Herwig.

White grew up in a musical family near Detroit, Michigan, which inspired him to begin his musical career. White’s expressive trumpet playing led him to collaborate with many of the top names in music, including: Bob James, Maynard Ferguson, Dave Holland, the Mingus Big Band, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and Arturo Sandoval.

White’s playing has enhanced the sound tracks of records, movies, and television. As a recording studio owner, White produces music for commercials, records, television, video games, and film. In 1994, White produced the Walter White Long-tone Accompaniment, a play-along CD for music practice. Now in its fourth printing, it continues to be used world-wide after 26 years. A Walter White Long-tone Accompaniment Volume II was released in 2019.