David White｜Trombonist, Composer & Music Director ｜New York, NY

Melissa Gardiner

Jazz trombonist Melissa Gardiner has been described by Curtis Fuller as technically creative and emotionally powerful. Gardiner received her master’s degree in jazz performance at The Juilliard School where she studied with Steve Turre. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree at The University of Michigan where she studied with Dennis Wilson(jazz) and David Jackson(classical). Former teachers also include Bill Harris, Curtis Fuller and Wycliffe Gordon.
Throughout her career she has worked with several notable musicians including Aretha Franklin, The Tempatations, Geri Allen, Wycliffe Gordon, Steve Turre, Gerald Wilson, Patti Austin, Tia Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and Vulfpeck.

As a bandleader, she performs regularly with her jazz organ trio, MG3, and the SAMMY Award winning New Orleans style brass band, Second Line Syracuse. She is a member of the CNY Jazz Orchestra and frequently joins other local and regional ensembles. Gardiner is active in theater as a pit orchestra musician and has also worked with Carnival Cruise Lines and the Disneyland All-American College Band.

Her debut album as a leader, Transitions, was released in 2011.

melissamaymusic.com

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Flashpoint

Rick Parker

Parker has resided in New York City since 2001 when he began studies for a masters in jazz performance and composition at NYU. He has worked with a large cross section of notable musicians and groups including Tim Berne, Mingus Big Band, Darcy James Argue Secret Society, Charli Persip, Frank Lacy, Super Hi-Fi, Tim Kuhl, Beninghove’s Hangmen, Cage the Elephant, hip hop legends the Wu Tang Clan and DMC and mexican pop stars Ximena Sariñana and Natalia LaFourcade. Since 2012 he has been a member of Ravish Momin’s Tarana, performing at festivals, universities and major concerts in USA, Mexico and Europe. Parker’s innovative use of electronics with the trombone have allowed him to cross through many musical genres and even garnered the attention of manufacturers Electroharmonix and Eventide with whom he has consulted on the development of new pedals and effects.

Parker has performed at major venues and festivals across Asia, Europe, North and South America including the Montreal Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Fest, Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Blues Alley, the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. Parker was twice honored with an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer award and frequently arranges music for rock/pop groups and jazz big band.

As a bandleader, Rick Parker’s music traverses multiple cultures and musical genres. His jazz quintet, The Rick Parker Collective, has released two albums on Fresh Sound New Talent and WJF records.

rickparker.net

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Flashpoint and The Chase

Nick Finzer

Born into the musical world (Mom Sherry Finzer is an international flutist), Finzer developed a fascination for the music of Duke Ellington and found himself, in high school, performing at the annual Essentially Ellington competition of Jazz at Lincoln Center. It was then that he decided to pursue a life in music himself. His budding talent was recognized by Wycliffe Gordon who began a life-long mentorship by writing four pieces for the young Finzer while he attended the Eastman School of Music. Nick went on to get his masters at Juilliard’s prestigious Jazz program where he was mentored by the trombone legend Steve Turre.

In 2011 Nick was the winner of the Eastern Trombone Workshop’s National Jazz Trombone Competition and was a finalist in the 2010 International Trombone Association’s Carl Fontana Jazz Trombone Competition.

In January of 2013 Nick released his recording debut as a bandleader and composer with Exposition (Outside In Music). Two tracks appearing on the album garnered Finzer a pair of accolades: The prestigious American Society of Composers and Performers (ASCAP)’s Herb Alpert Award for young composers (2013 & 2015)

Finzer has performed at top Jazz clubs and concert halls with Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Lucas Pino’s No Net Nonet, Ryan Truesdell's Gil Evans Project, Bob Stewart’s Double Quartet, Frank Wess, Terrell Stafford, Lewis Nash, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Walt Weiskopf, Slide Hampton, Frank Kimbrough, Carl Allen, Steve Turre.

nickfinzermusic.com

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Live at Midday Jazz

James Hall

James Hall is a trombonist and composer from Nebraska based in New York City. A versatile musician, his projects have spanned jazz, classical, latin, and popular music in the US and Europe.

As a composer and bandleader, James was named a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Competition, won three ASCAPlus Awards for composition, and was a featured performer/composer at the 2012 Chelsea Music Festival. As trombonist in Williamsburg Salsa Orchestra, he has performed at B.B. Kings', S.O.B's, MassMOCA, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note Jazz Festival, and has appeared in the pages of Rolling Stone Magazine. He has appeared on several recordings with Postmodern Jukebox, with whom he has toured Europe and the US. James' trombone playing earned third place, runner-up, and honorable mention in the Antti Rissanen, J.J. Johnson, and Carl Fontana International Jazz Trombone Competitions, respectively.

James' first CD as a composer/bandleader was released in October 2013. Entitled Soon We Will Not Be Here by James Hall Thousand Rooms Quartet, the body of work sets contemporary poems by NYC-based poets to 3rd-stream chamber music. His sophomore release, Lattice  is currently in post-production.

James holds degrees from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music in Wisconsin and Aaron Copland School of Music in New York.

jameshallmusic.com

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Live at Midday Jazz

Dan Reitz

Dan Reitz is a versatile and active musician, composer and music director based in New York City. He is the music director for Baby Wants Candy: The Improvised Musical with Full Band, The Improvised Opera, and was music director for the North American Tour of 50 Shades: The Original Musical Parody. He is the composer of Camp Death: A Midsummer Night’s Scream: The Musical, which premiered at Princeton University in 2014 and is an active jazz and rock trombonist. Dan studied longform improvisation at the Peoples Improv Theater and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and has over three years of experience teaching musical improv comedy to students in the U.S. and overseas.

blog.danreitz.com

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: The Chase

Barry Cooper

Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Barry Cooper moved to New York shortly after graduating high school to attend the New School University, where he studied under jazz master Benny Powell. Shortly thereafter, Cooper became a regular touring member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, performed on Sunday nights at Birdland with the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Orchestra, and had many other performances with other bands around New York City. Clark Terry was also very helpful to Cooper, inviting him to perform with a very young band he put together called “The Young Titans of Jazz.” Terry invited him to record in Bern, Switzerland, and as part of a live DVD in Birdland in New York City. While on tour with Terry in Switzerland, Cooper met the members of the Count Basie Orchestra and was invited to join. Since then, Cooper has performed all over the world, playing in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, and Bunkyo Civic Hall in Japan. He has played with Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Liz Wright, Dianne Schuur, Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Jon Hendricks, and the Charles Tolliver Orchestra, to name a few.

westpointband.army.mil//concert-band/personnel/trombone.html

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Flashpoint

Alaina Alster

Originally from Long Island, New York, Alaina Alster earned her Bachelor of Music in both trombone and euphonium performance from the University of Michigan and her Master of Music in trombone performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Prior to joining the West Point Band, Staff Sgt. Alster was an active freelance musician in New York City where she enjoyed a career performing a wide range of musical genres. She continues to perform with ensembles outside of West Point, specifically as a member of PitchBlak Brass Band, a ten piece hip-hop brass band based out of Brooklyn, New York. Alster is also a music educator and has worked as a teaching artist for the Phil Ramone Orchestra for Children and as a private music instructor.

westpointband.army.mil//concert-band/personnel/trombone.html

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: The Chase

Jimmy O’Connell

Originally from the Metro Detroit Area, O'Connell began playing piano at the age of 7 and trombone at the age of 9.  Soon after discovering the trombone, O'Connell joined the Detroit Symphony Civic Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Marcus Belgrave, and later on Rodney Whitaker.

O'Connell went on to study at the University of Michigan, and while attending, played with greats such as Geri Allen, Bob Hurst, Karriem Riggins and Rodney Whitaker.  After his tenure at Michigan, O'Connell pursued his Master's Degree from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with trombonist Luis Bonilla. Since moving to NYC, O'Connell has performed with greats such as Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, and Randy Brecker as well as with his own groups and as a sideman at Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Smalls, Fat Cat, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Zinc Bar, Highline Ballroom, Rockwood Music Hall and many others.  

His debut album, Arrhythmia, was released in 2016 on Outside in Music Records.

jimmyoconnell.com/

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Live at Midday Jazz

Robert Stattel

Rob Stattel, Trombone and Euphonium, a native of the Washington, DC area, currently resides in Yonkers, NY, and performs and teaches throughout the tri-state area. His experiences include a stint with the 81st US Army Band, and a national tour with “In The Mood”, a 1940s musical review.  Locally, he has performed with the Yonkers Philharmonic, the Westchester Broadway Theater, the Bensen/Scott Orchestra, the Westchester Swing Band, the Virgil Scott Orchestra, the Monarch Brass Quintet and the Bottom Line Tuba Quartet.. Rob has degrees from the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland, and has studied with Brian Bowman (Air Force Band) and Abe Torchinsky (Philadelphia Orchestra).

crestwoodmusic.com/faculty/brass

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Flashpoint and The Chase

Brandon Moodie

Brandon Moodie is a graduate of the University of North Texas. He currently resides in Astoria, Queens and is an active performer and educator in New York City.

Recorded with the David White Jazz Orchestra on: Live at Midday Jazz