1) Who or what inspired you to begin a serious career in music?
I can't site a specific event or person that inspired me--it was more of a series of people and events as I pursued an innate love of music which was passed on to me by my mother who was a talented pianist and music teacher. Although my music education started at a young age, it was not until later that I seriously pursued the piano. At the end of my freshman year in high school, the opportunity to work in a society band as a sound tech was given to me by a jazz pianist that I was taking lessons from. It was a chance for me to get into the working music environment and sit in on gigs whenever I could. I worked steady for a couple years with that group and gained a great deal of experience from working in venues all over Chicago and meeting many of the musicians on the scene. I loved being around the players and learning from them on gigs. Most importantly around that time I was making a deep connection to the piano and composing, and I was practicing several hours a day.

2) How old were you when you thought of music as a career?
By age fifteen, I knew I wanted to have a career in music. Live jazz performances I attended had a dramatic impact on me. I remember seeing a concert that my mother took me to as a teenager which was a triple bill of Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Ahmad Jamal. It seemed obvious to me after such experiences that there could be nothing better than having a life playing and writing music.

3) Who were some of your main influences as a pianist, and as a composer and arranger?
Initially, I focused a great deal on Chick Corea. I was totally in awe of his keyboard virtuosity, but I was even more moved by his prolific nature. Other early influences of mine were Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Monk, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Kenny Barron, Eliane Elias, and latin players like Michel Camilo and Gonzolo Rubalcaba to name a few. My piano teacher at DePaul, Larry Novak, was also having a strong influence on my pianistic and theoretical development. The great classical composers were some of my first influences as a writer because I analyzed and wrote in various styles a great deal when I was young. I had a teacher in high school who instilled a love of Baroque music in me and I was writing in the style of Bach chorales, inventions, and fugues almost everyday in my last year of high school. I see a great deal of parallels in the rules of Baroque music and bebop. Some of my first jazz composition influences came from fusion groups like the Yellowjackets, Weather Report, Don Grolnick, as well as a great LA jazz and classical artist, Billy Childs. Cliff Colnot, who was my professor at DePaul, had a serious influence on my developing an approach to arranging. Gil Evans, Duke Ellington, and Vince Mendoza were some of my early favorites. Today my influences are constantly in motion, but pianists that I am really into are Mulgrew Miller, Ahmad Jamal, Randy Weston, Kenny Kirkland, and Roland Hanna. I also am listening to more vocalists and horn players to develop my approach to phrasing in my playing and writing.

4) Can you describe your composing process?
I have approached composing from different perspectives. Sometimes it begins with a harmonic progression, sometimes a melody or a groove. Sometimes just a mood or sentiment I want to express. For me that's the most relevant component. That's what gives meaning to the musical materials. Although I have started doing otherwise recently, in the past I have generally written at the keyboard. There have been a few times when I put my hands on the keys and the music seems to "write itself". On equally rare occasions I am doing something like driving, running, showering, etc., and an entire tune pops into my head and is born. More often, I take my musical ideas and spend many hours mining them, reshaping melodies, reharmonizing them, reworking grooves and form, looking to exploit my original concept. I often use technology in this process--I am very at home working with synthesizers and sequencers.

5) What inspires you to write music?
What has driven me in the past to write my own music has been making the connection from an emotion, thought or idea to a musical form that resonates true for me. The inspiration can come from a variety of sources. When I feel that I have made that link happen, I feel like I have something to say. In other words, if I am not feeling anything outside of music, chances are I will not have much to compose. Music should be a reflection of life. I am also hired to compose music for various settings which have included TV, film, and variety of styles for other artists' projects. I really enjoy that work and the approach is different--the project becomes the inspiration. It may require venturing into other styles or moods that are new to me. It is like being an actor and getting inside a new character and really studying its background to make it believable.

6) Your last CD was called "Here and Now." Is there significance to this title?
It was a motif in my thinking around the time I was assembling the music for that recording. It expressed the importance of the moment--the vibrancy, the spontaneity, the urgency, the accountability. Although it was a studio produced recording, it was my intention that the compositions, playing, and group vibe, capture the spirit of that sentiment.

7) Can you talk about the band that will be featured at the festival. How did you come to assemble these musicians?
I will be performing with my sextet featuring James Cammack, Dana Hall, Geof Bradfield, Tito Carrillo and Greg Fishman. All except Greg are on Here and Now, and he has been a very welcome addition on the gigs that I have been able to have him on. These are all exceptional players and I love playing with them. James will be coming in from NY between tours with the Ahmad Jamal trio, so it will be a rare opportunity to have this great artist with me again. I met Geof at DePaul in 1989, and I knew of Greg from my college days as well. Tito I met in a society band about eight years ago and Dana about six years ago. My music is demanding technically, improvisationally, and conceptually, and these are the players to make it happen.

8) What can we expect to hear at the show? Will you be performing new material, or material from earlier CDs?
We will be playing mostly my original music from Here and Now as well as some new compositions that will appear on an upcoming CD.

9) We'll have a variety of listeners at the festival - some jazz enthusiasts and some neophytes to the music. What do you feel someone new to jazz should listen for in the music? How should they listen to what is going on to get the most out of it?
I hope that my music can relate to non-jazz listeners as well as grizzled aficionados. There is a strong groove component to much of my music that I hope will relate to new listeners at a gut, visceral level without any listening prerequisites. Rhythm is something anyone can connect with--it's primal. My goal is that the technique employed in the music serves the sentiment. Experienced listeners will hopefully also appreciate the craft and history involved.

10) How do you like living and working in Chicago? What do you think this city has to offer that other cities lack?
Chicago is a city with many opportunities for a musician to work, and there are some great players here. I am a native Chicagoan and I love living here. It's easy to travel anywhere from Chicago which is a necessity. Chicago can give a player a chance to cut his teeth, develop, and work, and it's less expensive than New York and other large cities. I think that is a distinguishing quality. An artist can find diverse culture and opportunity here and have more living options. Chicago has a unique blend of big city opportunity and warmth. It's a really beautiful city, too.
--by Chris White