NEW ORLEANS NIGHTLIFE & MUSIC - New Orleans Musicians

New Orleans Musicians: Dr. Michael White

Clarinetist and scholar Dr. Michael White knows New Orleans music. He's just back from his 11th straight New Year's Eve stint at New York's Village Vanguard, where he's been the only traditional jazz man to play regularly.

Because of Louis Armstrong and Wynton Marsalis people probably think of New Orleans as a trumpeters' town, but the clarinet is one of the city's big instruments.
Clarinet and banjo are the two instruments that define traditional New Orleans music. We have a strong clarinet tradition with two main tendencies: The Creole style which is softer and smoother by people like Jimmy Noone and Barney Bigard; and the blues influenced style which is more swinging by Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet and George Lewis. It's one of the most distinctive traditions in jazz. What I like about it is that it demands individuality.

Do you have a favorite local clarinetist?
I like Sidney Bechet, Edmond Hall, and Dodds but the truth is there are 40 on record and I like all of them.