Welcome to my Web site!
Hi...My name is Catherine Whitney...I am
a Chicago-based jazz vocalist / composer / lyricist that is published by
Second Floor Music in New York. I am also a lyricist for Freddie Hubbard,
jazz trumpet legend. I sing in the vo-cool style. Jerry Brown and
Gloria Cooper have recorded my work and three songs (in collaborations
with Curtis Fuller, Rogers Grant, and Milton Sealey) and these tunes are
featured in the Hal Leonard print publication, "Sing JAZZ!
Leadsheets for 76 Jazz Vocals ". Its a fantastic
addition to one's jazz vocal repertory...a unique songbook with music
and lyrics by some of the world's finest jazz composers and performers.
In addition, I have performed with many
great Chicago jazz legends including
Von Freeman, John Young,
Jodie Christian,
John Bany, Richie Cole,
Robert Shy, and the list goes
on. I'm also a BMI affiliated writer.
Now Appearing
in 2007...
Wednesday January 31st,
2007 Catherine will be featured with the
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet appearing at
Vesuvio Cafe
located at 2
Westbrook Corporate Center
in
Westchester, IL
from
7:00PM to 11:00PM.
Saturday February 3rd,
2007 Catherine will be featured with the
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet appearing at
Franchesco's
located in The Sinatra Room at 2404 Perryville Road, Rockford, IL from
6:30PM to 10:30PM
Saturday February 10th,
2007 The Catherine Whitney Duo will be appearing at the
Beach Cafe located at 903 Shelby Street Gary,
Indiana near the Indiana Dunes from 7:00PM to 11:00PM. Phone
number for reservations is 219-938-9890.
Saturday February
17th, 2007
Catherine Whitney will be appearing at the
Glorioso Cigar Club located at 5055 East 81st Street,
Merrillville, Indiana 46410
from 8:00PM to 1:00AM. Phone
number for reservations is
219-942-2678.
Saturday February 24th,
2007 The Catherine Whitney Duo featuring pianist Jose Valdez will be appearing at the
Mill Rose Restaurant and
Brewing Company
located at 45 South Barrington Road, South Barrington, Illinois from 6:00PM to 10:00PM.
Phone number for reservations is 847-382-ROSE.
Saturday March 3rd,
2007 Catherine will be featured with the
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet appearing at
Franchesco's
located in The Sinatra Room at 2404 Perryville Road, Rockford, IL from
6:30PM to 10:30PM
Sunday March 11th, 2007
Vocalist
Catherine Whitney will be featured with The
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet at
Green Dolphin
Street located at 2200 North Ashland Avenue, Chicago, IL
from 8PM to Midnight as part of host Roger DeVito's ongoing "Intimate Jazz Series"...ph# 773-395-0066.
Tuesday April 3rd,
2007 and each Tuesday thereafter, Catherine will be appearing with
her all-original-music group
Timm's Sister's Band at
The Peppercorn Grille
located at 11011 SW Highway, Palos Hills, IL from
8:30PM to 12:30AM
Saturday April 7th,
2007 Catherine will be featured with the
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet appearing at
Franchesco's
located in The Sinatra Room at 2404 Perryville Road, Rockford, IL from
6:30PM to 10:30PM
Saturday May 5th,
2007 Catherine will be featured with the
Johnie Faren Jazz Quartet appearing at
Franchesco's
located in The Sinatra Room at 2404 Perryville Road, Rockford, IL from
6:30PM to 10:30PM
Saturday May 19th, 2007 Private Party-wedding, Chicago, IL
Friday November 16th, 2007 Private Party-country club, Rockford, IL
Past Performances and
Guest Appearances...
...for the year
2006
...for the year
2005
Musicians
currently working with Catherine are...
Richie Marcisz--guitar
Ron Overcash--bass
Freddie Sontag--drums
Rick Watters--trumpet
Other Band Alumni ...
...are featured below:
Jodie Christian is a
favorite Chicago sideman who has played with Chet Baker, Lester Young
and Coleman Hawkins, among others. Jodie went on to lead his own groups
in the 1990s. He is one of Chicago's greatly admired musicians. A
versatile musician, Christian was the perennial favorite sideman for the
big name acts that blew through the Windy City including Coleman
Hawkins, Lester Young, Benny Carter and Milt Jackson. In the late '50s,
Christian was a leader of the Chicago bop scene. In the '60s, he was a
co-founder of Chicago's free jazz collective, the Association for the
Advancement of Creative Musicians. The group, headed by Muhal Richard
Abrams, included such other notable Chicago musicians as Lester Bowie,
Roscoe Mitchell, Leroy Jenkins and Chico Freeman. With the goal of
promoting and expanding modern African-American music, the AACM put on
festivals and concerts and even set up a school for young musicians. Its
influence is felt to this day, through both surviving recordings and
musicians like Christian who went on to have long, varied careers.
Christian has appeared on many recordings with the likes of Chet Baker,
Stan Getz, Gene Ammons, and Sonny Stitt among others, but it wasn't
until the 1990s that he began releasing albums as a leader.
Eddie DeHaas is
another favorite Chicago sideman who has played and recorded with Roy
Haynes as a former member of his trio, as well as Chet Baker and Gene Krupa among others as the bassist.
Click here for a list of his performance
history.
Tom Muellner is a highly respected Chicagoland jazz pianist.
He freelances with many top musicians and often plays for private
engagements.Neil Tesser, the nationally recognized jazz critic and
writer states Tommy is a "pianist and tunesmith of stellar magnitude".
He has performed with many "world class" jazz stars such as Ira
Sullivan, Eddie Daniels, Marvin Stamm, Bobby Ojeda, Von Freeman, Richie
Cole, and many others. Check out his website:
tommujazz.com
Bill Klewitz has long been a fixture on the Chicago Jazz scene
for many years. He is a wonderful guitar player as well as bass player.
Known as one of those rare musicians that know all the tunes, he has
been performing for years. Bill is also a well known photographer in the
Chicago Jazz scene. He has photographed many of the giants of Jazz from
Chicago as well as around the world. Bill has some of his shots now in
his picture gallery, and he will be featured each month in
ChicagoJazz.com's new "Online
Chicago Jazz Magazine".
Robert Shy has
been a drummer on the Chicago-area jazz
scene (and internationally) for the past quarter century and has played/recorded with many
famous Jazz greats along the way such as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Richie
Cole, Von Freeman, Larry Gray, Willie Pickens,
Jodie Christian, John Whitfield and Art Hoyle
just to mention a few.
Occasionally Accompanied
By or Guested With...
Robert Irving, III, a.k.a. "Baabe"
(pronounced like Bobby), is best known for his five year tenure as
Musical Director, Producer, and Keyboardist for the legendary trumpeter
Miles Davis. Baabe, as he is known by his peers, has produced three
Grammy Award nominated albums: two for Miles, "Decoy" and "You're Under
Arrest" and one entitled "Real Life Story", the Polygram debut for
drummer, Terri Lyne Carrington. Baabe has produced recordings with
Sting, Carlos Santana, Dianne Reeves, Branford Marsalis, Wayne Shorter,
Bill Evans, Gerald Albright, Grover Washington, Patrice Rushen, John
Scofield, David Murray and numerous other world-class musicians. Baabe
also produced the Susan Osborn, Nippon Music Award winning CD, "Wabi"
released in Japan on NEC Avenue.
As a composer, keyboardist, and arranger, Irving contributed to three
Ramsey Lewis albums, "Three Piece Suite," "Live at the Savoy," and
"Chance Encounters" and has also contributed to numerous other projects
and live performances with artists such as: David Murray, Oliver Lake,
Billy Joel, Oscar Brown Jr., Michael Brecker, Marcus Miller, Wallace
Roney, Buster Williams, Phil Upchurch, Darryl Jones, Victor Bailey,
Pharaoh Sanders, Fred White (Earth Wind & Fire) Phil Perry, Marilyn
Mazure, harpist, Markus Klinko, Ray Parker Jr. and was the musical
director for Sister Sledge. Baabe is featured on the recent CD release,
"Dark Star" with the David Murray Octafunk group on Profile Records
which rose to #1 on the billboard jazz charts). Baabe's work can be
heard on 22 CDs.
Irving has composed and produced four film/television scores. They are
"Street Smart" for Cannon Films, directed by Jerry Shatsberg, featuring
Christopher Reeve and Morgan Freeman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The
Prisoners," starring Yaphett Koto for MCA/Universal Studios, directed by
Drew Merish, and a short subject film entitled, "David and Michael at
the Beach" by director, Martin Hudson. Baabe's most recent score is for
a feature length film entitled "Scenes For The Soul," a trilogy directed
by George Tilman (Soul Food) for Menagerie Films.
David Murray and Baabe conducted extensive music workshops in Paris,
France, Dakar Senegal and Martinique, West Indies. A recording project
in Dakar yielded the CD "Fo Duek Review", released last spring on Justin
Records/Enja Records with three compositions by Irving.
Baabe currently tours with Warner Bros. recording artist, trumpeter,
Wallace Roney in support of the latter's new CD "Village" on which
Irving is a guest musician/arranger on five tracks along with Chick
Corea, Gerri Allen, Lenny White and Pharaoh Sanders. In Chicago he leads
his own groups "School of Cool" and is founder and director of the
sixteen piece, "African Arts Ensemble".
As a visual artist Baabe has been painting since April 1997 and has
exhibited at the Hot House Club/Exhibition Center in downtown Chicago,
The African Festival of the Arts and exhibits, on-going, at his beach
side "Spirit Art" Studio and at the Corridor Gallery in New York. His
group "Visual Music" debuted in September 1998 as a group of performing
visual artists.
Eldee Young,
Bassist and vocalist, is best known for his hit recordings with the
original Ramsey Lewis Trio and Young-Holt Unlimited.
Eldee Young passed away February 12th,
2007 while on tour in Thailand...he was 71 years old
(click here for details on the memorial service).
He routinely divided his time between gigs at home in Chicago and the Far East
(Thailand, Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul and Hong Kong).
Marshall Vente,
pianist/arranger/composer, is one of the busiest musicians in Chicago
with several different recordings released in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. He
was a National Endowment of the Arts “jazz apprentice” with Gil Evans
and David Matthews from 1982-87. Since then he has performed throughout
the States, the Caribbean and in Europe. Apart from creating music,
Marshall hosts a weekly radio show, Jazz Tropicale, heard every Sunday
at 10 pm CST in Chicago on WDCB 90.9 FM and streamed on www.wdcb.org He
is also the current president of the Association of Professional
Orchestra Leaders (APOL).
Together, Eldee and
Marshall have been collaborating for 15 years in Chicago. Their previous
Middle Coast releases have included The Long and Short of Jazz (‘00) and
Marshall Law (’01). Their goal is to present music with content that is
also fun and entertaining. Their latest album, Step Up to the Mic, is a
festival, both eclectic and fun, swinging jazz - with broad appeal to
all listeners. Check out their website at:
marshallvente.com
Corey Wilkes,
as a child, was surrounded by the sounds of Blues, R&B, Soul, Funk and
Jazz. He picked up the trumpet for the first time at the age of 10. Once
he joined band Corey's natural talent immediately began to shine. He
dominated his peers in both group and solo competitions, always taking
first place. His confidence and maturity were well beyond his years. As
a student at Rich South High School in Richton Park, Illinois his
professionalism allowed him secure a spot in the Illinois All State
Honors Jazz Combo, the only student in the school's history to do so.
Corey further honed
his craft as a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston,
Massachusetts. While there, he studied trumpet under Tiger Okoshi and
Charlie Lewis Jr. In an effort to absorb the very essence of Jazz, he
traveled to its heart, Louisiana. He integrated himself in to the local
scene as he frequented jam sessions and played with several different
bands in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Since then, Corey has
worked with the Jazz Institute of Chicago as an Artist in Residence for
the Jazz Links Program. He has also traveled the world, sharing the
stage with numerous Jazz Heavyweights including; Roscoe Mitchell, Fred
Anderson, Terence Blanchard, Clark Terry, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Wynton
Marsalis, Marcus Belgrave, Roy Hargrove, James Moody and Kurt Elling.
Corey is currently soothing souls at some of the most renowned jazz
clubs and festivals in the country. He is also traveling the world with
the Art Ensemble of Chicago, a world-renowned group of jazz legends. His
soulful, sophisticated sound can be found on Roscoe Mitchell’s recently
released CD Song for My Sister. Check out his website at:
coreywilkes.com
Dave Green, known as
"The Chicago Piano Man", has earned his title in every sense. Although
internationally known, Chicago has always remained his home base. Born
and raised in Chicago, Dave grew up learning from, and playing with,
some of the greatest music legends. He has entertained in many of
Chicago's premier night spots, including top hotels, restaurants,
cabarets, show lounges, private parties, and special events, as well as
his own concerts. He has appeared on, and been interviewed by, most of
the major TV networks and radio shows in Chicago. Dave Green's unique
style, rare class of talent, and personal charm (including the trademark
derby hat) have earned him the respect of fellow entertainers, the
affection of audiences, and the recognition of entertainment columnists
everywhere. Top reviews by the Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, Esquire,
Chicago Magazine, Night Life Magazine, and many others, have described
him as Chicago's best solo pianist and vocalist.
Check out his website:
davegreen.com
