Harley White June 26, 2008

Harley White
Bay Area Legend of the bass

Harley White, jazz bassist and vocalist, has been enchanting audiences for ages. He has performed with Frank Sinatra, Anita O’Day Earl “Fatha” Hines, Dizzy Gillespie, Jon Hendricks, John Handy, Sonny Stitt, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, George Coleman, Ernestine Anderson, Bill Eckstine, and Linda Ronstadt. A native of Oakland, California, Harley has been in Music Education for over 30 years. He began playing professionally since 1960 and in 1969 he joined The Edwin Hawkins Singers as a bassist and performed the first crossover gospel song "O’ Happy Day." Harley White Bass and vocals Piano Joey Edeleman Percussion Vince Delgado

In 1974, Earl “Fatha” Hines heard Harley playing with Martha Young, niece of the famous Lester Young, and hired him. A major figure in the history of Jazz, Earl Hines led Jazz piano out of ragtime and into the era of Fats Waller and Teddy Wilson. In the 1920s, he and Louis Armstrong replaced the collective improvisation of Dixieland with the virtuoso soloist as the centerpiece of Jazz. Later, in the 1930s, his orchestra was broadcast live from the Grand Terrace Ballroom in Chicago, bringing Jazz to a nationwide radio audience. When Harley joined him, Earl had lived in Oakland for years, but he still performed all over the world.

"I didn't realize what a big star he was when I first joined," Harley said. "But once I got with him and started seeing the respect people were paying him all around the world, the concerts and the way people rolled out the red carpet, the hotels we stayed in, that was something.

"I used to call it the University of Earl Hines," Harley said. "If he found out you could do anything besides play your instrument, you had to do it. He found out I could sing, so I had to sing. He found out I could play the trombone and the baritone, so he worked that in."

WebLinks
Artist or Label Web Site: http://www.harleywhite.com/

Official Website: http://www.jazzatpearls.com/jazz