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Lenny White
Drum Boogie
2010 — Anomaly
((( The One )))
yZ.
Lenny White. A drummer. One of the earliest explorers of the Outer Limits of Jazz. A disciple of Miles Davis, who started his journey on Bitches Brew, the record many call the First Fusion.
[FROM THE TOP]
Voyager
1977 — Lenny White wearing his signature Buenos Aires Gaucho hat.
Miles Electric Band (MEB)
2023 — The Miles Electric Band (MEB) in the studio, recording That You Dare Not To Forget is a project inspired by, and dedicated to Miles Davis and Bitches Brew. A creative endeavor meant to, in the spirit of Miles, to continue exploring the outer reaches of Jazz.
J Boys
1987 — A Trio of hometown ((Jamaica Queens)Lenny’s hometown band
w/ Marcus Miller (bass guitar)
Bernard Wright (keyboards)
Coryell, Bailey, and White.
2005 — When Lenny speaks to the importance of the electric guitar in the creation of “Fusion” music, he’s thinking first of Larry Coryell, the guitarist, who with Victor Bailey (bass) and Lenny (drums), made up one of the world’s finest Electric Jazz trios.
Anomaly
2011 — Lenny’s sixth solo record is another example of his always looking forward, to the future sensibilities of Electric Jazz. With the guitars of Stanley Clarke, Jimmy Herring, and Richie Kotzen, Anomaly leans toward the Rock N Roll end of Jazz Rock spectrum … a group of eclectic virtuosos, playing Hard Rock and Metal like few other bands called “Jazz.”
Birth Of The Cool
2019 — Miles Davis documentary looks at the volatile life and musical times of the mysterious and mythical trumpeter, who stands as one of the most important and “Coolest” characters in the history of Jazz music and culture.
What the Future May Bring to Miles is a class Lenny created and teaches at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Music. The discussion focuses on Miles’ impact on music, society, and culture. All of Miles … THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE JAZZ.
Bitches Brew wasn’t Fusion, it was Miles playing Rock N Roll.
— Lenny White
(Drums/ Return to Forever/ Bitches Brew )
“Miles Runs The Voodoo Down”
Miles Davis
Bitches Brew
1970 — Another change was gonna come.
((( >>> )))
sg.
[FROM THE TOP]
1969 — As always, Miles Davis was being influenced by all the sounds around him. New York City, Vietnam, and a Man on the Moon. Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and James Brown. Miles used it all to define what was “Cool.”
Bitches Brew —
Red Clay —
Return to Forever —
It was like an orchestra, and Miles was our conductor. We wore headphones. We had to be able to hear each other. There were no guests at that session. No photos allowed. But there was one guest that nobody talked about, Max Roach. All live recording, no overdubs. 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., for three straight days. — Lenny White (Bitches Brew) Lenny, 19 at the time, describes his first professional session experience.
1610 — After observing three points of light near the planet, Galileo Galilei had discovered the three largest Jupiter moons on January 7, 1610. He had observed their movement over several nights, and by January 15, he was convinced they were objects orbiting Jupiter, making them “moons.” Of the three, iO was actively volcanic, the largest, and the innermost of the three.
Later that year, Galileo wrote of the discovery (GALILEAN MOONS) in his book (almanac), THE STARRY MESSENGER.
“Kashmir”
Lenny White
I am a traveler in both time and space
((( >>> )))
Voyager Golden Record (1977)
Starry Messenger Galileo Galilei (1610)
Ed White Space Walk Gemini 4 (1965)
1958 — Chuck Berry
“Johnny B. Goode“
Hail Hail Rock N Roll (1987)
1959 — NASA/ NASCAR/ MINUTE MAID/
1960 — Where The Boys Are
1961 — Alan Shepard (2806)
1962 — Dr. No
Missiles in Cuba
John Glenn
1963 — Louis Armstrong* (wiki)
“What A Wonderful World”
JFK Assassination
1964 — “Fly Me To The Moon“
Frank Sinatra
“In Other Words” (1954)
b/ Kaye Ballard
1965 — Gemini 4
Ed White
The Beatles
“It’s Been A Hard Day’s Night“
Rolling Stones
“Paint It Black“
MUSIC ’66 — Good Vibrations, Strangers In The Night, These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ Eleanor Rigby, Summer In The City, Reach Out I’ll Be There, When A Man Loves A Woman.
“Young Gifted and Black”
1966 — Battle of the band competitions in New York City, when he was a kid, as the incubators, from which so much Electric Jazz emerged. He recalls one Saturday afternoon when the two bands jamming it out, to earn a weekend gig at The Bitter End, were as the drummer Billy Cobham‘s and guitarist Larry Coryell‘s. Lenny doesn’t remember who won, but does it really matter?
TONY WILLIAMS — Tony Williams was 16 years old when Miles Davis asked him to join his band, and it was then that an even younger Lenny White imagined himself in the same position. And imagine that, it did happen, four years later.
“Conquistador”
Procol Harum
1967 —
((( >>> )))
Weldon Irvine, who wrote “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” introduced by Nina Simone to a crowd of 50,000 at the Harlem Cultural Festival, August 17, 1969. The performance was captured on broadcast video tape, and released in 2021 as part of Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary film Summer of Soul
1968 — Apollo 8
1969 — Apollo 11
1970 — Led Zeppelin
“Heavy Metal Monster”
Lenny White
The Adventures of Astral Pirates (
((( >>> )))
Carl Sagan (Contact)
The Sounds of Earth was a playlist of music, industrial, and ambient sound (urban, farm … etc.) that was put aboard Voyager, NASA’s exploratory satellite in 1977. It served as Sagan’s “Cosmic Message In A Bottle,” a message he hoped would be discovered by some sort of educated Extraterrestrial form of life. Carl Sagan‘s Cosmic Message In A Bottle.
[NOT THE SHADOW OF LO]
1977 — Carl Sagan‘s Cosmic Message In A Bottle.
HOLY TRINITY OF ROCK
HOLY TRINITY OF JAZZ
1978 — Disco (Fever Sucks)
Bee Gees
Gil Scott-Heron
Black Wax
The Last Poets
Nina Simone
Everyone’s Gone to The Moon
Rick James (“Bitch”)
vs. Ron Carter
The Distinguished Gentleman
A Tribe Called Quest
Bitches Brew (1970)
Miles Davis
Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone)
Bennie Maupin (bass clarinet)
Dave Holland (bass guitar)
Chick Corea (electric piano)
Joe Zawinul (electric piano)
John McLaughlin (electric guitar)
Harvey Brooks (electric bass guitar)
Lenny White (drums) left
Jack DeJohnette (drums) right
Don Alias (congas)
Juma Santos (shaker) credited as “Jim Riley”
Freddie Hubbard
Joe Henderson
Herbie Hancock
Ron Carter
Lenny White
also:
Stanley Turrentine (tenor saxophone)
Johnny “Hammond” Smith (electric piano)
George Benson (guitar)
Billy Cobham (drums)
Airto Moreira (percussion)
Larry Coryell
Bill Connors
Earl Klugh
Al Di Meola
Carlos Santana
Neil Schon
Jimmy Herring
Vernon Reid
Ron Carter
Stanley Clarke
Jaco Pastorius
Marcus Miller
Victor Bailey
Wayne Shorter ( soprano saxophone
Bennie Maupin ( bass clarinet
Joe Zawinul ( electric piano
Chick Corea ( electric piano
John McLaughlin ( electric guitar
Dave Holland ( bass
Harvey Brooks ( electric bass
Lenny White ( drums
Jack DeJohnette ( drums
Don Alias ( congas
Larry Young ( electric piano
Billy Cobham ( drums
Airto Moreira ( percussion
w/ Herbie Hancock
Buddy Miles
Jerry Garcia
The Miles Davis record on which he first experimented with the electric sounds he was hearing all around him. James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan … everyone had plugged in, and Miles was never one to fall behind. He had always been the leader. The one who defined the meaning of “Cool.”
Most of Lenny’s students are the same age he was when Miles chose him to play on Bitches Brew, and became a mentor, who set a course for Lenny to see, follow, and live. Miles inspired Lenny to follow his musical calling, and take a lead role in shaping the future of jazz.Lenny’s been teaching since 2014, but he has lived the Miles Davis philosophy his entire life, especially after Miles invited him to play drums on Bitches Brew, the recording often credited with having dramatically changed the course of Jazz.
Space Flight
LW
Starting at the Top
Bitches Brew
In 1970, Lenny was still a teenager and his boyhood dream to play in Miles Davis’ band had come true. For Lenny, playing on what so many call the best “Fusion” record ever made was only the beginning of Lenny’s musical journey, a journey that took him around the world, and led him into The Outer Limits of Jazz.
—yZ.
Journey to the Outer Limits of Jazz
Lenny White always remembers where he’s from, but he has never stopped exploring how far he might go.
When the first record you make is Bitches Brew, Miles Davis’ electric Jazz masterpiece, said to be the most important Jazz recording ever made, the first, and from then on, always question is What’s Next?
If you’re Lenny White, a 19 year old drummer living in Jamaica Queens, New York, you record Red Clay, with Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, and Ron Carter.
Bitches Brew and Red Clay were number one and two on the Jazz Times (magazine)list of the “top 10” jazz albums made in the 1970s, and with those being Lenny White’s first two recordings, it set the highest standard for which he never stopped working to achieve.
After recording Bitches Brew and Red Clay, Lenny, still living in NewYork, spent the next year playing with the world’s finest jazz musicians, and recording with Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Curtis Fuller, and others.
Lenny White, the well known Return to Forever drummer, has lived a life immersed in the culture of jazz. Growing up in New York City in the 1960s, when jazz was colliding with rock n roll, Lenny did what any teenage jazz drummer would do. He played in all the neighborhood clubs, as often as he could, showing off, making his presence known, and hoping to get noticed.
It wasn’t long before Lenny did get noticed,by Jackie McLean.
In 1969, McLean made another drummer suggestion to Miles, that Lenny mightbe a good fit to replace Tony Williams, who had just left Miles to form his own band, Tony Williams Lifetime.
Again, Miles took McLean’s advice,and before the end of the year,Lenny had recorded Bitches Brew.
The explosive and momentous launch was only the beginning of a 50year career that has taken Lenny around the world, performing in clubs, concert halls, and stadiums. He’s recorded hundreds of albums, 20of his own, as a player, a writer, and a producer. He’s also led two bands, Twennynine and The Jamaica Boys, with Marcus Miller, Bernard Wright, and Mark Stevens.
All that, while producing a number of projects, featuring artists including Chaka Khan and Nancy Wilson (Echoes Of An Era), and Michel Petrucciani (The Manhattan Project) with an all star group, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Gil Goldstein, Pete Levin, and introducing Rachel Ferrell.
In this long, productive, and eclectic time, Lenny has won four Grammy Awards, had tunes reach as far as #3 on Billboard’s R&B chart, and has earned universal respect among his peers.
Currently, continuing his journey, Lenny is a professor at New York University’s Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts. Since 2014, when asked, Lenny created a course called “The Miles Davis Aesthetic,” a conversation focusing on the life and times of Miles Davis, the creation of Bitches Brew, which changed the meaning of jazz and changed Lenny’s life, setting a course for him to explore the outer limits of jazz.
Still continuing to reinvent himself, Lenny has expanded his compositional skills, and is writing concert music.
In April of 2022, the NYU Orchestra premiered “TheJourney,” which is part of an extended piece for orchestra.
Also in August 2022, Lenny premiered “The MagnificentSeven,” a commissioned percussion ensemble piece at the Aspen Music Festival. There are other commissions in the works.
INST. OF CHANGE
VERNON REID (GUITARIST)
JIMI HENDRIX (VOODOO CHILD)
PRINCE (THE ARTIST)
YARDBIRDS (A LIGHTER SHADE OF BLUE)
THEY ONLY COME OUT AT NIGHT (DOWNTOWN NYC)
SUMMER IN THE CITY (HIP-HOP, FUNK, AND FUSION)
VERNON (CONT’D)
Bitches Brew (1969)
Some say, the most important electric jazz recording ever made.
w/ Miles Davis
John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
ChickCorea (Return toForever)
Joe Zawinul (Weather Report)
Wayne Shorter
Bennie Maupin
Larry Young (w/Hendrix)
Dave Holland
Harvey Brooks
Jack DeJohnette
Red Clay (1970)
w/ Freddie Hubbard
HerbieHancock
Joe Henderson
Ron Carter
Azteca (1972)
w/ The Escovido Brothers
Paul Jackson
Santana
Neal Schon
Ross Valory
In 1972, the year after the explosive beginning of Lenny’s career, he was asked by the Escovido Brothers to join their new band, Azteca.
Azteca was influential in San Francisco’s large Chicano community, along with(Carlos) Santana.
In the first two years (1972/1973), Azteca recorded two albums, Azteca and Pyramid Of The Moon, but more significant to Lenny was his befriending Santana guitarist Neal Schon.
At the same time, Lenny’s old Bitches Brew mate Chick Corea had called to say he and Stanley Clarke were flying into San Francisco to play a week long engagement at Keystone Korner, the famed jazz club in the North Beach neighborhood.
Chick and Stanley had been booked for the week as a trio, hoping Lenny would agree to sit in. They had just ended a Return To Forever tour in Japan,and unknown to all but Stanley, Chick was looking to form a new “electric” Return To Forever. Having played with Lenny on Bitches Brew, and knowing his rock n roll ability, Chick hoped Lenny would join his “new” band.
Lenny agreed to play the week at Keystone Korner, during which popular Bay area guitarists Bill Connors and Barry Finnerty also sat in.
After the Keystone Korner gig, Chick told Lenny of the change he wanted to make, and asked Lenny if he wanted to be a part of the new Return To Forever.
Lenny said “yes” to Chick and Return To Forever, and turned down the opportunity to be in a band with Neal Schon, Ross Valory, and Gregg Rolie, the band that became Journey.
Bill Connors, one of the guitarists who sat in with Chick,Stanley,and Lenny, was also asked by Chick to join the band, making complete the new “electric” Return To Forever. (to be continued)
Return To Forever
w/ ChickCorea
Stanley Clarke
Bill Connors
Lenny White
Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy (1973)
w/ Al Di Meola
Where Have I Known You Before(1974)
No Mystery (1975)
Grammy Award (BestJazz Performance)
Romantic Warrior (1976)
After recording four records, including Romantic Warrior, one of the biggest selling(electric) jazz records ever, Return To Forever had become popular enough to be playing sold out stadiums. Despite the band’s success, Chick, again, made an artistic change, a change without Lenny and Al.
Venusian Summer (1975)
Lenny made his first solo record,Venusian Summer, while he was still a member of Return To Forever.
allmusic.com said: Venusian Summer is one of the better entries to emerge from the jazz rock movement between 1970 and 1976. Return To Forever drummer, Lenny White, has an excellent feel for funk, and an amazing sense of taste. “Chicken Fried Steak” contains enough odd time beats and fills to satisfy any drum fanatic, but Lenny proves to be much more than just a technician.
“The Venusian Suite” and “Mating Drive” with the great Larry Young (organ), Ray Gomez (guitar), and David Sancious (keyboards), were both more sophisticated and moody, as if Lenny had been influenced by a combination of Return To Forever and Tangerine Dream. Another of the record’s highlights is “Prince Of The Sea,” featuring guitarists Al Di Meola and Larry Coryell, both in their electric prime. This is the only time the two guitarists were recorded together, making Venusian Summer a sought after record for any jazz rock guitar fan.
Venusian Summer was coproduced by synth master Patrick Gleeson.
Big City (1977)
After departing Return To Forever,Lenny made the good decision to focus his time, writing, recording, and producing, making his own jazz rock record, Big City, one of the best of its time. To choose the more than 60 Big City musicians, Lenny revisited some of his oldest and momentous musical partnerships, and also made new ones that would last a lifetime.
w/ Linda Tillery
NealSchon
Ray Gomez
Jerry Goodman
Jan Hammer
Herbie Hancock
Weldon Irvine
Paul Jackson
Bennie Maupin
Miroslav Vitous
Verdine White
Brian Auger
Tower Of Power Horns
coproduced by Patrick Gleeson
The Adventures of Astral Pirates (1978)
A SciFi, Graphic Novel on vinyl. The visual presentation included the cover, by famed D.C. Comic artist Michael Kaluta, and a graphic depiction of Lenny’s futuristic story about a war of worlds in a distant galaxy.
Coproduced with Lenny by Al Kooper
w/Lenny White (drums)
Don Mizell (concept)
Don Blackman (keyboards, string arrangement)
Nick Moroch (lead guitar)
Alex Blake (bass)
Jeff Sigman (rhythm guitar)
Streamline (1978)
Streamline was coproduced by Lenny and Earth, Wind & Fire keyboardist Larry Dunn, and features Chaka Khan.
w/ ChakaKhan (vocals)
Marcus Miller (bass guitars)
Dianne Reeves (vocals)
Nick Moroch (guitar)
Jamie Glaser (guitar)
Larry Dunn (Mini Moog)
Don Blackman (keyboards/vocals)
Denzil Miller (keyboards)
James W.Alexander (keyboards)
Twennynine (1979)
In a dramatic change in musical direction, Lenny formed Twennynine, which included Donald Blackman’s “Peanut Butter,” and reached #3 on Billboard’s R&B chart.
After the success of its debut, Twennynine toured with Rick James and an up and coming artist named Prince.
w/ Eddie Martinez (guitar)
Skip Anderson (keyboards)
Barry Johnson(bass), and singers
Lynn Davis (vocals)
Carla Vaughn (vocals)
Joycelyn Smith (vocals)
Tonya Willoghby (vocals)
Best of Friends (1979)
coproduced by Larry Dunn
Twennynine with Lenny White (1980)
coproduced by Larry Dunn
Just Like Dreamin’ (1981)
Echoes Of An Era (1982)
No matter the genre, whether playing, Hip Hop, Dance, Funk, Rock, Soul, R&B, or Jazz, Lenny proved to be one of the best in the field.
Lenny produced one of his most artistically acclaimed projects, Echoes Of An Era, in 1982.
With Echoes Of An Era, Lenny created a fine example of the jazz philosophy he had lived by since he was a young man.
Instilled in Lenny was that one had to understand and respect the past, before they could express themselves and look to change the future.
Echoes Of An Era lived up to Lenny’s Jazz ideals, putting a group of Jazz masters together to accompany his old friend, Chaka Khan, who sang a collection of Jazz standards.
For the band, Lenny went deep into his personal past, to Bitches Brew and Red Clay, where he found Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, and Chick Corea, all former band leaders who Lenny worked with, recreating Billie Holiday’s Lady Day Sessions, with contemporary artists.
“I Love You Porgy”
“All Of Me”
“Take the ‘A’ Train”
The Jamaica Boys (1987)
Much like Jackie McLean first seeing Lenny, Lenny saw Marcus Miller in Jamaica Queens club, with his electric bass guitar, impressively leading another eight players in an entertaining, free form jam. Afterward, Lenny asked Marcus to join his band. It was 1978, and Lenny was going into the studio to make Streamline, his fourth solo album recorded after he left Return to Forever. Now, ten years later, after playing with Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, and David Sanborn, it was Marcus calling Lenny and Bernard Wright, asking to form The Jamaica Boys.
Jamaica Boys (1987)
JBoys (1989)
Shake It Up (1990)
Lenny Goes To Hollywood
When a friend of Lenny’s first heard his piece “Perfect Match,” she asked Lenny if he knew Spike Lee, whom she was working with, thinking he would appreciate the piece.Lenny didn’t know Lee, so his friend took it to him directly. Soon after,Lenny received a call from Lee, asking to use the song in School Daze, the film he was making at the time.
Two years later, director Reginald Hudlin came calling, asking Lenny and Marcus Miller to write and produce the score for House Party, the movie he was currently shooting.
“Perfect Match” (1988)
House Party score (1990)
The Manhattan Project (1990)
Lenny describes The Manhattan Project as a contemporary amalgamation of synthesizers and live musicians. For the project, Lenny once again assembled an all star band including:
Wayne Shorter,
Michel Petrucciani,
Stanley Clarke,
Gil Goldstein,
Pete Levin,
Michelle Ferrell, and Lenny.
Atlantic Records (1994)
Lenny produced two “Acoustic Master” records for Atlantic Records. Acoustic Masters I (1994) w/ Charles Lloyd Ceder Walton Buster Williams Billy Higgins Acoustic Master 2 (1994)
w/ Bobby Hutcherson
Mulgrew Miller
Ron Carter
Craig Handy
Jerry Gonzalez
Lenny White
Hip Bop (1995)
Lenny, with Michael Urbaniak, did three records as Urbanator, and after Lenny signed a personal deal with Hip Bop records,he produced three more. With the Hip Bop Essence all stars, producing six records.
Who Do You Love” (1995)
w/ Chaka Khan
Marcus Miller
Bernard Wright (Jamaica Boys)
A cover of a song written by Lenny and Bernard Wright in 1985.
Present Tense (1995)
Renderers Of Spirit (1996)
Edge (1999)
w/ Chaka Khan
Marcus Miller
Chick Corea
Stanley Clarke
Dean Brown
Victor Bailey
Bernard Wright
Michael Brecker
John Scofield
Mark Ledford
Kenny Garrett
Jane Getter
Gil Goldstein
Nicki Richards
Tony Purrone
Mulgrew Miller
Jean McClain
Danny Walsh
George Whitty
Adam Holtzman
Foley
OTHER PROJECTS: Wallace RoneyVillage(1997) The Gerri Allen TrioSome Aspects of Water (1997) Gerri AllenThe Gathering(1998)
Vertú (1999)
Lenny, once again partners with longtime friend and Return To Forever bandmate Stanley Clarke, and the two Jazz masters went out looking for young talent to record their latest project.
Lenny and Stanley found what they were looking for in Richie Kotzen (guitar), Rachel Z (keyboards),and Karen Briggs (violin).
With Karen Brigg’s violin, Vertú was interestingly reminiscent of John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, as it broke new ground, featuring such young talent.
(Otherprojects) Wallace RoneyNo Room For Argument (2000) Ron CarterStardust (2001) Buster WilliamsHoudini (2001)
“Dreyfus Night In Paris” (2003)
Another of Lenny’s productions, featuring Michel Petrucciani (piano), Marcus Miller (bass), Kenny Garrett (piano) and Bireli Langrene (guitar).
The Love Has Never Gone (2004)
Tribute to Earth, Wind & Fire
Lenny had been longtime friends with Maurice White and the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and as a longtime fan of their music, it made perfect sense for him to write, record, and produce a straight ahead Jazz interpretation of their progressive R&B music.
w/ Bireli Lagrene (guitar)
Antoine Roney (saxophone)
Wallace Roney (trumpet)
Vanessa Rubin (vocals)
Patrice Rushen (keyboards)
Kelvin Sholar (arranger)
Produced by Lenny White
Coryell, Bailey, White (2005)
w/ Larry Coryell
Victor Bailey
Not unlike “The Love Has Never Gone,” Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey,and Lenny were playing jazz interpretations of popular music. Different, though, was that CBW was interpeting, more expectedly, blues and rock n roll standards, rather than Earth, Wind & Fire’s progressive R&B.
Electric (2005)
Including: “BlackDog”(Led Zeppelin)“Sex Machine”(Sly Stone)“Born Under A Bad Sign”(Booker T.Jones) “SoWhat” (Miles Davis)“Footprints” (Wayne Shorter)
Traffic (2006)
Including:“Manic Depression”(Jimi Hendrix) “Electric Jam”(Larry Coryell)
OTHER PROJECTS: Buster Williams65 Roses(2006) AztecaFrom The Ruins (2008)
Return To Forever Reunion (2008)
Long anticipated (30 years), the Return To Forever Tour, went around the world in the summer of 2008. A highlight was at the Montreux Jazz Festival where the band’s performance was recorded and released (2CD/DVD) the next year.
Returns, the audio set included performances from Montreux, and also Boston and Clearwater, Florida, near Chick’s home.
OTHER PROJECTS: Lenny White Hancock Island (2008) The Stanley Clarke Trio Jazz In The Garden(2009) Return To Forever Live At Montreux(2009) Return To Forever Returns (2009)
Return To Forever fans hoped, after the reunion, that Chick and the band would go into the studio to make a new record, but that was not to be.
Al Di Meola went back to his World Siwas replaced by Frank Gambale and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. The new lineup didn’t produce a record, but did a number of performances over the years before Chick Corea’s death in 2021.
One live recording (The Mothership Returns) was released as a 2CD(audio set) and a DVD in 2012. The album peaked at #6 on the 2012 and 2013 Jazz Album charts.
Stanley Clarke Band (2010)
Grammy Award
(Best Contemporary Jazz Recording)
Anomaly (2010)
After 10 years of revisiting the past, and playing others’ music, Lenny was ready to produce another solo record to satisfy his need to move forward, to conjure the feeling of the Jazz Rock movement of the 1970s, for which he played a big part.
The result, Anomaly, showed Lenny at his Hard Rock N Roll best, a guitar-heavy record that included the previously unknown (to Lenny) guitarist Jimmy Herring, and Stanley Clarke’s always rock-solid, electric bass.
allaboutjazz.com said: Lenny White has never stood still, or rested on his laurels, and inspite of Anomaly’s roster of heavy weight jazz musicians, the music is nicely varied, with rock,funk,fusion,and the R&B that increasingly colored White’s releases throughout the ‘90s. It’s all featured here.
There is definitely a harder rocking edge to much of the music,compared to the rest of Lenny’s discography. “We know” explodes with a great, heavy riff, featuring searing metal solos by guitarists Nick Moroch and David Bendeth on the other side of an instantly recognizable bass solo from Stanley Clarke.
Even an R&B track like the catchy “Forever” is branded in sizzling fashion by guitarist Jimmy Herring.
w/ Lenny White (drums)
TomGuarna (guitar)
DonaldBlackman (organ/piano)
George Cooligan (organ)
VinceEvans (keyboards)
Bernard Wright (synthbass,piano,keyboards)
Victor Bailey (bass)
David Bendeth (guitar)
Stanley Clarke (bass)
Jimmy Herring (guitar)
David Gilmore (guitar)
Mike Clarke (drums)
Danny Walsh (alto/tenor saxophones)
Tim Ouimette (trumpet/trombone)
Jerry Z (organ)
Chris Williams (vocals)
Vaneese Thomas (vocals)
Gregory Clark (vocals)
Nicki Richards (vocals)
Irene James (backing vocals)
Michelle Weeks Reynoso (backing vocals)
Richie Goods (bass)
Charles Fambrough (acoustic bass)
OTHER PROJECTS: Jamey Haddad, Lenny White, Mark Sherman Explorations in Space and Time (2011) Return To Forever The Mothership Returns (2012) Letizia Gambi Introducing Letizia Gambi(2012) Letizia Gambi
Lenny White Live (2013)
NYU (2014)
Lenny is offered a faculty position in the New York University(NYU) music department,for which he created “The Miles Davis Aesthetic.” Today, Lenny teaches the course, focusing on Bitches Brew, to students who are the same age as he was when he made the recording with Miles back in 1969.
OTHER PROJECTS: Letizia Gambi Blue Monday (2016) Chick Corea The Musician (2016) Wallace Roney A Place In Time (2016) Cyrus Chestnut There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit (2017) Buster Williams and Geri Allen Houdini(2019)
Birth Of The Cool (2019)
Lenny writes the one(and only) original composition included in Miles Davis: Birth Of The Cool, the 2019 film documenting Miles Davis’ life, and the artistic impact he had on jazz and its culture. “Hail To The Real Chief” was coproduced by Vince Wilburn, MilesDavis’ nephew.
Current Projects (2022)
Miles Electric Band
We Have No Leaders (working title), documentary film about Harlem 1964.
Zeppelin Rising
Who drummer Keith Moon is responsible for the name of friend Jimmy Page’s new band, LED ZEPPELIN.
Led Zeppelin I
1970 — The next change was gonna come.
((( Your Time …)))
Bitches Brew wasn’t “Fusion,” it was Miles (Davis) playing Rock N Roll.
— Lenny White
(Drums/ Return to Forever/ Bitches Brew )