White, Chris(topher Wesley)

White, Chris(topher Wesley), jazz bassist, educator; N.Y., July 6, 1936. He was born in Harlem but grew up in Brooklyn; his mother was a piano teacher. In January 1963 he was with Dizzy Gillespie. In the 1970s he was on recordings by Grandmaster Flash, one of the pioneers of rap. He has become a leading educator and arts administrator, with expertise in computer applications. From 1973-76 he was the director of Rutgers Inst. of Jazz Studies and was co-Director, Jazz Lab, Benning-ton Summers Bennington Coll. in 1976. From 1984-86 he was the Project Director of Alpines Project (Arts Literacy Project in Elementary Schools), a public school teacher training program held at Newark Community School of the Arts. From 1987-91 he was Director of the Professional Division Newark Community School of the Arts, which provided established professionals with retraining in state-of-the-art technology, and professional level educational experiences for gifted and talented students. From the early 1990s, he was Director, Jazz Opportunities for Youth (JOY), at Montclair State Univ. (MSU). He toured Eastern Europe with MSU Jumpin Jamming Jazz which included college students and six high school JOY students. He created Special Improv Workshop for visiting Buena Vista, Ariz., high school band at MSU (1993), the Newark Jazz Festival Jazz Improv Workshop (1994), and Montclair HS Jazz Improv Workshop (1995). He is a music professor at Bloomfield State Coll.

—Lewis Porter