Rodney Whitaker is a Michigan treasure and one of the worlds renowned Jazz bass performers and educators. A Detroit native, he grew up in the city soaking in the sounds of jazz/classical music and working/studying with the finest musicians in the city--Marcus Belgrave, Kenneth Cox, Donald Walden, Randy Gelispie, Stephen Molina, Robert Gladstone, Francisco Mora-Catlett, Alma Smith, Shahidah Nurullah and many, many others. Building on his Detroit roots and enormous talent, Whitaker went on to earn an international reputation as one of the worlds finest jazz double bass performers. He completed a seven-year tenure as bassist with Wynton Marsalis Sextet and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. He has toured the world over the last twenty years, collaborating with legendary performers such as Dianne Reeves, Mulgrew Miller, Diana Krall, Terence Blanchard, Kathleen Battle, Cyrus Chestnut, Gerald Wilson, Carl Allen, Hank Jones, Marian McPartland, Johnny O'Neal, Kenny Burrell, Bob James, Benny Golson, Kenny Garrett, Branford Marsalis, the late John Lewis, Tommy Flanagan, Kevin Mahogany, Jon Carl Hendricks, Wycliffe Gordon, Jon Faddis, Vanessa Rubin, Betty Bebop Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Curtis Fuller, Donald Byrd, Dizzy Gilispie, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, Cassandra Wilson, Pat Methany, Chick Corea and Roy Hargrove as well as with leading symphony orchestras. Now based in East Lansing, Whitaker continues to remember his Detroit roots, serving many of the citys talented students as Director of the Detroit Civic Jazz Orchestra, Musical Director for Jazz Education at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Director of the Jazz in the Studio Mentorship Program and summer jazz camp in cooperation with the Arts League of Michigan. Currently, he is on Michigan State Universitys faculty as Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Jazz Bass and has built a leading jazz degree program and performing faculty, Michigan State University Professors of Jazz as the Artistic Director. His legacy of teaching promises to be distinguished, with former students currently performing with jazz greats such as Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Stephon Harris and many others.
All of Rodney Whitaker's solo CD's can be listened to and purchased on Amazon.com
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