Gil White

• Active: '20s, '30s
• Genres: Jazz
• Instrument: Sax (Tenor), Clarinet

Biography

Gil White was a member of a jazz dynasty comprised of three brothers and two cousins, the Pennsylvania family settling in Washington, D.C., prior to the '20s and finding many opportunities in regional dance bands, some of them syncopated in a brand new way. A tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, Gil White was the cousin of Harry White, Eddie White, and Willie White. Eddie White was a pianist, the others multi-instrumentalists. Morris White, a saxophonist and pianist, was Gil White's brother. The White Brothers Orchestra was the logical outgrowth of this clan's activities. Work with bandleaders who became international performers eventually took priority for some of the related fellows, however. Both Harry White and Willie White gigged with Duke Ellington, for example. Gil White performed with the illustrious soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet circa the mid-'30s; recording sessions involving this band have been reissued and repackaged with enough variety to make it seem like White's discography is much larger than it really is. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide