Lee Whiteman: My Jazz Odyssey

Everybody has their own jazz journey, which details what attracted them to this art form. Something clicked when they were introduced to jazz. Each one of us has a unique story to tell about how they became entranced with jazz. So, without any reservations, here is my story.

Being from New York City, you would think that I would be introduced to jazz early in my childhood. That was not the case. My mother was an elementary music schoolteacher that focused on classical music. My father worked in the subways—he was more interested in Calypso, being from Grenada. In our car radio, we listened to WLIB which focused on Gospel and Soul music, and whatever station carried the Mets games.

I remember my mother taking me to Queens College to hear Eubie Blake and the Modern Jazz Quartet, but nothing stuck. Learned how to play classical piano at the Queens Conservatory of Music, but my first true musical love was the trumpet. My father had an Al Hirt album which I played sometimes, but my mother nixed that idea after seeing Dizzy Gillespie's cheeks in full bloom. And of course, many cartoons like Spiderman used Jazz interludes that I still remember.

Around 1970, my father finally bought a stereo—A JVC stereo with two 35-watt speakers plus a Goddard turntable from Lafayette Electronics. At that time, there were two popular radio stations that played jazz—107.5 FM WBLS with Frankie "Hollywood" Croker and Ken "Spider" Webb. And next door 106.7 WRVR with folks like Les Davis, Felipe Luciano, and  Lois Gilbert. Once in a while, their playlists would be very close to each other, meaning that you could not immediately tell if you were listening to WRVR or WBLS. I found the music more interesting on WRVR, so I stayed with it.

On WRVR, I heard a wide range of jazz. This was definitely during the fusion period with Weather Report, Return to Forever, the Brecker Brothers, and Billy Cobham amongst others. The first jazz albums I purchased were Deodato Prelude and Deodato 2. Felipe Luciano introduced me to salsa, with Eddie Palmieri's opus Un Dia Bonito. Gil Scott-Heron and Les McCann / Eddie Harris awakened my political thoughts in my head. WRVR's favorite segue was Weather Report's Nubian Sundance with Duke Ellington's Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue. Loved Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay, my favorite trumpet player. Loved George Benson's Take Five—A quick story. One of the few friends who tolerated jazz, played guitar. I played him the Bad Benson album twice in his basement (aka his studio), then the third time he played it back note by note. A large WRVR poster hangs in my family room.

Most of the folks I hung out with at that age did not appreciate jazz. Funk, soul, and R&B were more to their taste, which was cool by me. But I suggested that we dance to The Crusaders and Billy Cobham to no avail—Billy Cobham was "too wild" for some folks. My high school, Jamaica High School, had an outstanding jazz ensemble and I attended every one of their concerts. The ensemble had "big ears," playing big band standards and fusion classics.

I went to college at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as a mechanical engineering major. There, I joined the staff of WUSB-AM, which became an FM Station before my junior year. I thought that WRVR would hire me, but that was not the case. At "Da Brook," I was introduced to Miles Davis, John Coltrane and many others. My show on Sundays, from 6 to 9 p.m., was an eclectic mixture of jazz, right before NPR's Jazz Alive with Billy Taylor. I became affiliated with the International Art of Jazz which was led by Ann Sneed. A smaller WUSB-FM poster hangs in my family room next to the WRVR poster.

It was also where I met my girlfriend Brenda in 1977, now my wife of over 40 years, who did the newscast before my program. Brenda's father was a music teacher and jazz musician. The few times he visited Brenda to hear her newscast, I would have to change my fusion-oriented playlist to acoustic bebop. It worked since he put up with my music taste. As a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, he taught me the value of long tones on the trumpet.

Since I was an adult and away from my parents, I purchased my trumpet from Manny's in Manhattan and started playing. Riding the F Train home, I fantasized being a jazz musician returning from a gig. I did not know the trumpet is a b-flat instrument and had to learn to transpose—that is another story. Plus, when possible, I photographed Jazz Musicians in performance, mimicking Veryl Oakland. My jazz photographic archives is very large with thousands of print and JPEG images. I gave several photograph exhibitions on jazz through the years and got published a few times.

It's been a helluva run and I got records, CDs, photographs, and memories to prove it. But most important, I met some of the nicest people on the planet. At a club in New York City, I shook hands with Dizzy Gillespie before his set—Brenda thought I would never wash my right hand after touching one of the Trumpet Gods. I saw him multiple times; read his autobiography and biography. Benny Waters and Brenda's father were tight friends that I got to know. Paquito D'Rivera showed our oldest daughter his clarinet at a concert at LIU.

As our family grew, so did our appreciation of jazz via the Saratoga Jazz Festival through its many incarnations. Daughter Belinda at five years old was introduced to Tony Bennett, despite her parents not owning any Tony Bennett albums. Our youngest daughter, Bethany, loved the fashions sold there. Friends and family know that the last weekend in June is always reserved for the festival that we have been going to since 1982. A favorite memory was seeing 10,000 people of every ethnicity nodding their heads in a 4/4 beat in unison to Grover Washington, Jr.'s Mister Magic. I got great shots at the festival, thanks to the SPAC team at "The Hang." We missed the festivals when we got married in 1985 and when Belinda was born in 1988—missing Miles Davis. I had to make a choice, Miles or baby Belinda, and you know which one won.

Jazz increased my spiritual growth, after listening to John Contrane's A Love Supreme, Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts,  Dave Brubeck's mass To Hope!, and Mary Lou Williams' Mass. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter introduced me to Nichiren Buddhism, a source of inspiration to them. Dizzy Gillespie's Olinga was his tribute to the Ugandan Bahai Enoch Olinga who earned the title Knight of Baháʼu'lláh and was appointed as the youngest Hand of the Cause—Enoch Olinga was assassinated in 1979 for his faith.

Brenda's father left us in 2018. He would come to our annual Jam Session on Labor Day weekend playing soprano saxophone. It was an honor playing with him and his friends and former students. Our annual Jam Session had 100 people attend in 2025, where the price of admission was your favorite food, your favorite libation, and your instrument.

WRVR no longer exists much to my chagrin, but was replaced by WBGO in Newark, New Jersey and WRTI in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Still playing the trumpet and flugelhorn. Took lessons. Became a part of a Jazz Ensemble at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton, New Jersey called The Renegades. I am now learning and playing with an adult combo at Jazz House Kids in Montclair, New Jersey, led by President Melissa Walker and Artistic Director Christian McBride. I also play at the Mercer County Community College Jam Sessions, where young people are given the opportunity to swing. Life is good.

It's been 56 years since I was introduced to this musical art form called Jazz. It's been a wild and crazy love affair. I can't wait to see what the next 56 years will look like...