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* November 6, 1889 Kingstree, SC
† July 2, 1980
As a brass band musician he played with:
Tuxedo Brass Band
The name Amos White, in small print on the liner notes to a New
Orleans jazz compilation, seems a veritable sandwich of anonymity. White's
participation in this genre, beginning even prior to the Roaring Twenties,
is in actuality only a small part of his fascinating life as a musician.
White's first musical peer group was the famed
Jenkins Orphanage Band, an indeed
illustrious collaboration between a South Carolina charitable
institution's talented and dedicated music teacher and the many young
musical talents who seem to have been orphaned during the late 19th
century in the area of Charleston, SC.
The Jenkins Orphanage Band went on
regional tours, even several European jaunts. White aged out, enrolled at
Benedict College, and eventually returned to the orphanage as a teacher.
As the year 1913 comes up, White can certainly be said to be on the move
around the nation, his cornet case the key to employment in minstrel shows
and circus bands.
During the First World War White was part of
the 816th Pioneer Infantry Band,
entertaining in shell-shocked venues throughout France. When White based
himself in New Orleans in 1919 he began toiling as a typesetter by day,
trumpeting come twilight alongside
Papa Celestin,
Fate Marable
(Fate Marable's Society Syncopaters), and many others. This is
the period where documentation of this brassman's achievements kick in; in
the mid-'20s he accompanied classic blues singers
Mamie Smith and
Lizzie Miles and was a regular member of
the
Alabamians band. In 1928 he headed north
stylistically, so to speak, leading
the Georgia Minstrels himself. White's
next direction was west. He settled in Phoenix, AZ, employed in the brass
section of
Bradley's Dublin Orchestra, leading his
own combo, and even edging into Latin jazz territory with dance band
leaders such as
Felipe López. Many of the aforementioned
occupational interests continued to kick in wherever White based himself.
He owned his own print shop in Oakland from the mid-'30s as well as being
active on the local gigging scene. He would have been more than 70 years
old when reported playing with marching bands during the '60s.i1
by Eugene Chadbourne
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