Los Angeles solo piano for hotels, piano bars & private events · jazz standards, pop, Latin & Brazilian, show tunes, requests · cocktail hour to a full room Book →
★★★ “White’s intent was to showcase his prowess as a composer. He’s quite good, in this regard.”— Eric Fine, DownBeat, March 2011
“One of the year’s most impressive debuts.”— San Francisco Chronicle, September 2010
“…rife with exciting compositions and strong group interplay.”— Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz, December 2010
Selected recordings & live sets.
Debut album
Modern-jazz originals for trio and quintet — featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens, Yunior Terry & Yaala Ballin.
Arrangements and original compositions for concert forces.
Full catalog on SoundCloud → · More on YouTube →
“I love all kinds of music. But jazz is the one I’ll always return to — it’s so full of freedom, and of life energy.”Billy White
Billy White is a Los Angeles-based jazz pianist and composer whose path has been anything but traditional.
A San Francisco Bay Area native, he studied jazz piano at UCLA — on scholarship, under masters Kenny Burrell and Gerald Wilson — while earning a degree in ethnomusicology. Those years took him from a jazz/hip-hop group in Paris to the study of Gnawa trance music in Morocco, and into writing for film. He led his own trio and quintet in Brooklyn and is now based in Los Angeles.
His debut as a leader, First Things First (Porto Franco Records, 2010), drew national jazz-press praise for its compositions and group interplay — with a band featuring Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens, Yunior Terry, and Yaala Ballin.
Now booking in Los Angeles.
Hotel lounges, piano bars, restaurants, private events and residencies. Solo piano or a small group, from background music at cocktail hour to a high-energy set that takes requests.
Check a dateMarch 2011
“White’s intent was to showcase his prowess as a composer. He’s quite good, in this regard.”— Eric Fine, ★★★ review of First Things First
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September 2, 2010
“[Billy White] has assembled an expansive musical universe that draws on everything from traditional Chinese scales and hip-hop beats to Afro-Cuban rhythms and Moroccan Gnawa grooves. He celebrates the release of his CD First Things First, one of the year’s most impressive debuts, with a top-notch Bay Area band…”— Kimberly Chun & Andrew Gilbert, “Essentials: This weekend’s live music picks”
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December 9, 2010
“…rife with exciting compositions and strong group interplay. … With music like this, it’s fairly certain that First Things First won’t be the last thing the jazz world hears from pianist Billy White.”— Dan Bilawsky, review of First Things First
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For bookings in Los Angeles and beyond, scoring inquiries, and press:
Email Billy