The product of a music-loving household, he studied with pianists Jim Rowsey, Don Haas, and Mark Levine (author of The Jazz Piano Book). Encouraged by high school music teacher Martha Stoddard, he participated in the City College and San Francisco State jazz bands, and won three CMEA Command Performances as a high school student.
Recruited by Kenny Burrell's jazz performance program at UCLA, he earned three important scholarships his first year: The Duke Ellington Jazz Award, the Martin Feldman jazz award, and the David A. Abell jazz award (Mr. Abell took him under his wing and procured a piano for him from his store in 2005, sadly shortly before he passed on). He studied the erhu (chinese spike fiddle) with Chi Li, studied jazz with Tom Ranier, Sherman Ferguson and Kenny Burrell, and played in the Latin Jazz big band with Bobby Rodriguez, as well as the Brazilian batucada with Beto Gonzalez, and studied Indian Music with the Caitlin and Nazir Jairazbhoy .
In 2003/2004 he studied in Paris, France. After a chance encounter in the subway, a French rapper by the name of Spleen (Universal France) heard Billy play at his corner bar, St.-Frusquin's, and asked him to join Heezbus, a jazz/hip-hop group. Billy agreed and spent 6 more months in Paris, learning French, and playing with the group, which also included Hugh Coltman (Universal France) and bassist Ben Molinaro (Cocorosie).
Returning to Los Angeles in 2004, Billy was musical director of BOKU, co-founded with television actor/rapper Jo D. Jonz. Within three months, the band was an underground hit, selling out the House of Blues, the El Rey theater, the Viper Room and many other venues. He also managed to graduate with a bachelor's in Ethnomusicology in 2005.
Now, while still a part of BOKU, Billy has lived in New York for the last three years, as a jazz and classical composer, accompanist for the Martha Graham school of dance, music producer, film composer and music educator. For examples from his extensive music library, please visit www.whitelotusmusic.com and www.myspace.com/billywhitemusic.
In summer of 2008, Billy was invited to Casablanca, Morocco, as part of Blackout, a group put together by R&B vocalist Wallace Gary. In addition to a very successful month-long run at Le Petit Rocher, a fashionable Casablanca nightclub, he also explored Morocco and studied Gnawa music, meeting the internationally-renowned guembrist Seddik Laarch, in Essouaira. These experiences, including audio, video, and pictures, can be seen here.
In addition to songwriting collaborations with several artists nationally and internationally, he is currently working on fusing some of his interests in a modern jazz album scheduled for release this summer. Some rough cuts are available in the player above. He was also recently tapped to score "Ponies", a complex independent feature directed by New York veteran Nick Sandow, featuring the Soprano's John Ventimigliano.
He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. Look for a performance near you soon!
Additional Information
Venues Performed at: House of Blues (Hollywood), Viper Room (Hollywood), B-Squared (Tel Aviv), The Revolution Cafe (San Francisco), 69 Bar (Manhattan), Rassela's (San Francisco), La Scene (Paris), many others.
Jazz Festivals : UCLA Jazz/Reggae 2001, North Beach Jazz Festival 2007, New York State Jazz festival 2008.
Studied With : Kenny Burrell, Tom Ranier, Roberto Miranda, Don Haas, Mark Levine, Jim Rowsey, Sherman Ferguson, Bobby Rodriguez, Llew Matthews.
Performed With: Marcus Shelby, Pete Yellin, Kathy Harley, Kally Price, Anthony Krasyinsky, Chase Steele Graye, Alexandra Hernandez, Alexa Weber, Make-a-Circus band, Heezbus, Boku, Tiffany Pfeiffer, Chanuncey Yearwood, Autumn, Wallace Gary, Ariel de la Portilla.
Produced/wrote with: Grace Woods Trio, Tiffany Pfieffer, Jess Domain
Contributed music for fims/TV/web: More than I could Chew (Andrew Vennari 2007), Fifteen Minutes of Fame (Jo D. Jonz 2007), The Great Nude (Dangerous Media 2008).