Andre White

Montreal's Andre White has long been a huge influence on me for over twenty years now. And not only is he an incredibly swinging Jazz drummer, he plays the piano with an affinity towards Bill Evans and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of Jazz history too. I learned a great deal from Andre during my days studying at McGill and still do, to this very day.

I recently heard Andre play in Gatineau, Quebec last October with Steve Grossman, Fred Henke and Ron Seguin (a sort of reunion band, as it were) and I was quickly reminded of how much influence he's had on my drumming and my being a Jazz musician over the years. Mr. White is all ears, all music and all about playing for the musicians around him.

Here's some recent footage of Andre in action with Toronto saxophonist Kirk MacDonald featuring Harold Mabern on piano.



Burnin' !

And here's a full concert from their recent appearance at New York's Jazz @ Lincoln Center:



And, lastly, here's a track from an unreleased trio album offered to us from Montreal's Mike Rud, a nice little swinging jaunt on "Cherokee":