Results for "Maurice White"

Maurice White

Born: December 19, 1941

Maurice White was a visionary musician, producer, and songwriter. While globally recognized for founding Earth, Wind & Fire, his career began as a highly skilled percussionist whose rhythmic precision defined the "Chicago Soul" sound.

Early Life and Education

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, White grew up in the Foote Homes Projects.

• Musical Roots: He began singing in his church choir at age six but quickly shifted his focus to drums after being inspired by a local marching band.
• First Band: In high school, he formed his first band with childhood friend and future soul legend Booker T. Jones.
• Formal Training: To further his craft, he moved to Chicago and enrolled as a percussion scholar at the Chicago Conservatory of Music.

The Professional Drummer (1960s)

Sonic Loops: Eight Miles High on the Psychedelic Trane

by Alan Bryson
May 15, 2026

In the popular music of the '50s, the landscape revolved around individual vocalists, vocal harmony groups, and instrumental ensembles. In the early '60s, something radical emerged: self-contained groups--a collective of individuals with a group dynamic and identity. They wrote, sang, played instruments, and performed as a unified artistic whole. This represented a structural revolution in how ...

Long-Lost Orchestral Work By Earth, Wind & Fire’s Leader Maurice White Receives World Premiere 23 Years After Its Creation

March 6, 2026

PERFORMANCES BY SYMPHONIC JAZZ ORCHESTRA IN LONG BEACH, CA, MAY 9-10, 2026 Listen to Maurice White from 2003 talking about writing the new work for the SJO The 68-member Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (SJO), the nation’s premier hybrid orchestra blending the worlds of jazz and classical music, today announced the newly discovered orchestral work believed to be ...

Top Ten Kennedy Center Musical Moments

by Alan Bryson
July 10, 2021

It's a good bet that most of us have heard people say they don't like jazz, or even worse, drop the H-bomb: “I hate jazz." If you choose to engage them, the key is to tread lightly and tailor an approach that considers their tastes and sensibilities. This So You Don't Like Jazz column explores ways ...

Ghosts In The Machine, Part 3: Jazz Musicians And Popular Music

by Kurt Ellenberger
February 23, 2021

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 Part 3: The GhostsIn a recent essay in Commentary, Terry Teachout, arts and culture critic for the Wall Street Journal, makes an argument for the date on which the jazz era officially ended and the rock/pop era began--May 9, ...

Ramsey Lewis & Urban Knights: VII

by Phillip Woolever
November 17, 2019

Back in 1995, an executive named Carl Griffin at Ramsey Lewis' record label reportedly conceived the idea of forming a jazz “super group" around the well-established Chicago pianist. The resulting all-star project, deemed Urban Knights, featured Grover Washington Jr. and a rhythm section with Omar Hakim and bassist Victor Bailey, who'd worked together in the early ...

Brian Culbertson Celebrates A Milestone Anniversary “live”

January 13, 2015

The first live recording from the multi-genre multi-instrumentalist aims to get radio to “Think Free” Los Angeles, CA: Years ago, a young ambitious musician-songwriter-producer emerged from Chicago who went on to architect 27 No. 1 Billboard singles along with a half-dozen albums that debuted at No.1 that changed the status quo with a creative and fresh ...

Earth, Wind & Fire Releasing New Studio Album "Now, Then & Forever" on September 10

July 23, 2013

Legacy Recordings is proud to announce the release of Now, Then & Forever by the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire. This marks the group’s first new studio album in eight years. Now, Then & Forever, will be available everywhere on Tuesday, September 10. Earth, Wind & Fire’s first album of new studio material since 2005, ...

Music Therapy: Duboc Delivers A Revealing “Smile”

May 23, 2013

Jazz singer-songwriter teams with Jeff Lorber for a deeply personal album about the demise of her marriage Los Angeles, CA: Thinking that everything had fallen apart, the tears streamed down Carol Duboc’s face as she wrote the lyrics to “Smile,” the title track to the soulful jazz vocalist’s stunning sixth album that was released Tuesday (May ...

"Stand By Me," Written By Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Ben E. King, To Receive Towering Song Award at the 2012 Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala Event

April 10, 2012

“Stand By Me,” the song written by Leiber & Stoller and Ben E. King will receive the Towering Song Award at the 2012 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Gala Event to be held at the Marriott Marquee Hotel in New York City on Thursday, June 14, 2012, Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman Jimmy Webb announced today. ...