Biography
Amos White receives only the briefest acknowledgment in the credits for a New Orleans jazz anthology, yet his contributions to that idiom form merely one chapter in a far more expansive musical existence that began well before the 1920s. His initial ensemble experience came with the Jenkins Orphanage Band, the celebrated alliance of a dedicated South Carolina music instructor and the gifted youths left parentless in late-nineteenth-century Charleston. The group undertook extensive regional circuits and multiple European tours before White, having reached the age limit, matriculated at Benedict College and later rejoined the institution as an instructor.
By 1913 he was traveling widely across the country, relying on his cornet to secure work with minstrel troupes and circus ensembles. During the First World War he served in the 816th Pioneer Infantry Band, performing amid the devastated theaters of France. Settling in New Orleans in 1919, White worked days as a typesetter while spending evenings on trumpet alongside Papa Celestin, Fate Marable, and other local figures. Documentation of his activities becomes clearer in the mid-1920s, when he backed classic blues singers Mamie Smith and Lizzie Miles and held a steady chair in the Alabamians. In 1928 he assumed leadership of the Georgia Minstrels, steering the troupe northward in both geography and repertoire.
He next relocated westward, establishing himself in Phoenix, Arizona, where he played in the brass section of Bradley’s Dublin Orchestra, fronted his own small group, and explored Latin-inflected jazz with dance-orchestra directors such as Felipe López. These varied pursuits persisted in subsequent cities; from the mid-1930s onward he operated his own print shop in Oakland while remaining active on the regional club circuit. Well past seventy, he was still reported performing with marching bands throughout the 1960s.
By 1913 he was traveling widely across the country, relying on his cornet to secure work with minstrel troupes and circus ensembles. During the First World War he served in the 816th Pioneer Infantry Band, performing amid the devastated theaters of France. Settling in New Orleans in 1919, White worked days as a typesetter while spending evenings on trumpet alongside Papa Celestin, Fate Marable, and other local figures. Documentation of his activities becomes clearer in the mid-1920s, when he backed classic blues singers Mamie Smith and Lizzie Miles and held a steady chair in the Alabamians. In 1928 he assumed leadership of the Georgia Minstrels, steering the troupe northward in both geography and repertoire.
He next relocated westward, establishing himself in Phoenix, Arizona, where he played in the brass section of Bradley’s Dublin Orchestra, fronted his own small group, and explored Latin-inflected jazz with dance-orchestra directors such as Felipe López. These varied pursuits persisted in subsequent cities; from the mid-1930s onward he operated his own print shop in Oakland while remaining active on the regional club circuit. Well past seventy, he was still reported performing with marching bands throughout the 1960s.
Singles