Jazz Articles about Matt White

About Matt White

Radio & Podcasts

Jon Batiste, Greg Chako, Ulysses Owens Jr., Faye Carol & Matt White

by Joe Dimino
September 6, 2026

In memory of the incomparable Dolly Parton, who we lost at the age of 80 on August 25, 2026, we open this edition of Neon Jazz by celebrating an artist whose music, generosity, and humanity reached far beyond the stage. Matt White carries that spirit forward with his 2026 album Dolly, offering a beautiful interpretation of the timeless classic “Jolene." From one icon to another, we then turn toward the genius of Thelonious Monk, reimagined through the remarkable vision of ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jolene! Matt White, Ndlovu Youth Choir, Congo Cowboys, Cowboy Carter, Dolly Parton

by Katchie Cartwright
June 8, 2026

We begin with some great takes on Dolly Parton's “Jolene," one of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (Rolling Stone). First up is trumpeter Matt White's crackling jazz arrangement, from his 2026 release, Matt White's Dolly (Adhyâropa Records), followed by dazzling renditions by the South African Ndlovu Youth Choir, the Congo Cowboys, Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter (Columbia, 2024) and Parton's original single (RCA Victor, 1974), which still sizzles. These lead us back into White's most unusual disk. Read All About ...

Album Review

Matt White: Matt White's Dolly

Read "Matt White's Dolly" reviewed by Katchie Cartwright

by Katchie Cartwright
May 25, 2026

A miniature doll-like effigy of the great country music singer-songwriter Dolly Parton adorns the cover of trumpeter-composer Matt White's Dolly. How did the Queen of Country become the subject of this fascinating (if awkwardly-branded) mainstream jazz album? Happenstance. White was researching Gullah songs for his 2023 album, Lowcountry (Ropeadope), when YouTube “Pandorized" him into a video of a young Parton, guitar in hand, performing “The Bridge," solo, on the Porter Wagoner television show in the '60s. He made ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 11, 2024

Even though all but unsung outside his customary locale, Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill has drawn into his orbit a small but well-respected circle of jazz artists including bassist Rodney Whitaker, guitarist Randy Napoleon and trombonist Michael Dease, all of whom have recorded albums dedicated to Hill's diverse and sophisticated music. Found in Space is Dease's second homage to Hill, with a third one in the planning stages. Hill's compositions, which traverse the spectrum from straight-on jazz to ...

Album Review

Michael Dease: Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill

Read "Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
October 16, 2024

Leaving a legacy in this life is a subject that holds different meanings for people. For some, it involves building a structure of permanence that will stand up to the test of time after one's entrance into eternity. For others, it is more fleeting, something that can be shaped and reshaped, and if desired, completely torn down. For some it is a function of building a monument to oneself. For others, like Central Michigan composer/arranger Gregg Hill, it is a ...

Liner Notes

Michael Dease: Found in Space - The Music of Gregg Hill

by Bill Milkowski
August 9, 2024

The title itself is revealing. A clever play on words of the old '60s sci-fi show Lost in Space, it immediately suggests an irreverent wit and slightly twisted perspective; qualities that also permeate the unique music of prolific Michigan-based composer Gregg Hill. How this fairly obscure presence on the national music scene has managed to garner such a fervent following remains a mystery to those of us outside the Great Lakes State. Converts include bassist-educator Rodney Whitaker, Director ...

Album Review

Sofia Goodman: Secrets of the Shore

Read "Secrets of the Shore" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 21, 2023

Secrets of the Shore, Nashville-based drummer Sophia Goodman's second album, is thematic, and its essential element is water. Goodman wrote or co-wrote the ten numbers, each of which is designed to induce in the listener's mind some aspect of water, from placid to turbulent, gentle to intense. As is true of all thematic enterprises, it rests with the listener to hear and appreciate what the composer has in mind. Goodman fares well in that respect, as her ...