Before hurricane Katrina tore along, the musician and professor Dr. Michael White was one of the key figures in New Orleans jazz. With his clarinet he kept old traditions alive and he taught Spanish and Afro-American music at the University of New Orleans. In de last two years he recorded two albums for the New Orleans label Basin Street. On there he combined the blues with the traditional New Orleans sound. White is considered a gifted clarinet player and bandleader, who, in his shows, mixes fresh traditional jazz with jazz education. But everything has changed in New Orleans. Since the New Orleans jazz scene was obliterated in one blow, White has been one of those prominent musicians who try to survive and do just about everything to rebuild the local jazz scene. White’s passion for his native country’s music is still burning, although the rising water took a lot away from him: original transcriptions of the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and King Oliver, and even his clarinet collection. Nowadays White lives in Houston.
