Biography
Hy White's moniker evokes a police dispatch describing an ordinary suburban youth, yet this jazz guitarist first attracted notice through his role in Woody Herman's orchestra toward the end of the 1930s and stayed until 1944. Rhythm guitarists in elite big-band sections were counted on for rock-solid time and chordal support that filled sonic holes without intruding, and White excelled at precisely that approach, earning recognition as one of its foremost practitioners. In contrast to Freddie Green, the longtime Count Basie guitarist, White delivered incisive solos whenever the leader signaled him. Herman liked spotlighting the guitarist on his own blues pieces, including the driving "Blue Upstairs," whose title could also serve as a house-painter's directive, and the deeply expressive "Red River Blues." The standout Herman rhythm section of that era featured pianist Tommy Lineham, bassist Walter Yoder, and drummer Frankie Carlson.
After leaving Herman, White worked as a freelancer and avoided the tax troubles that later beset his former leader. He performed and recorded with Les Brown, hotshot drummer Gene Krupa, Tony Pastor, and the Dorsey Brothers. Whether "Hy" or otherwise, he took part in Krupa's required anti-drug lectures and short films, an obligation imposed to keep the drummer out of jail. On shorter engagements he appeared with traditional jazz bandleader Georgie Auld and with tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster; together they cut a session for the Apollo label that later resurfaced in various saxophonists' reissue collections. From the late 1940s into the 1950s White also accompanied jazz and pop singers, recording with Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and Pearl Bailey. He served in the stage bands behind Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, and the wonderfully talented Danny Kaye, and those Sinatra shows resulted in appearances on the singer's classic Columbia sides. Devotees seeking rarer encounters will find White not with the so-called "Chairman of the Board" but supporting marvelous singer Jimmy Scott, whose tremulous voice sometimes resembles a fluttering bird; Scott's versions of the spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" drew on the same blues-inflected style Herman had featured.
White's commitment to teaching formed another major facet of his work; he authored the Leeds Guitar Method volumes aimed at beginners. For a time he also championed the seven-string guitar alongside Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Morgen, and Fred Fried. Hy White and Fred Fried? The pairing would have suited a Cheech & Chong gathering perfectly.
After leaving Herman, White worked as a freelancer and avoided the tax troubles that later beset his former leader. He performed and recorded with Les Brown, hotshot drummer Gene Krupa, Tony Pastor, and the Dorsey Brothers. Whether "Hy" or otherwise, he took part in Krupa's required anti-drug lectures and short films, an obligation imposed to keep the drummer out of jail. On shorter engagements he appeared with traditional jazz bandleader Georgie Auld and with tenor saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster; together they cut a session for the Apollo label that later resurfaced in various saxophonists' reissue collections. From the late 1940s into the 1950s White also accompanied jazz and pop singers, recording with Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, and Pearl Bailey. He served in the stage bands behind Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fisher, and the wonderfully talented Danny Kaye, and those Sinatra shows resulted in appearances on the singer's classic Columbia sides. Devotees seeking rarer encounters will find White not with the so-called "Chairman of the Board" but supporting marvelous singer Jimmy Scott, whose tremulous voice sometimes resembles a fluttering bird; Scott's versions of the spiritual "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" drew on the same blues-inflected style Herman had featured.
White's commitment to teaching formed another major facet of his work; he authored the Leeds Guitar Method volumes aimed at beginners. For a time he also championed the seven-string guitar alongside Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Morgen, and Fred Fried. Hy White and Fred Fried? The pairing would have suited a Cheech & Chong gathering perfectly.