Masterclass Jazz-Schlagzeug mit Mark Whitfield Jr.

Jazz drum tradition and building your own sound

Mark Whitfield grew up in Brooklyn. At the age of two, he was already allowed to perform as a guest with his father's band. On scholarship, he studied at Berklee College of Music, where he had lessons with Hal Crook, Joe Lovano, Terri Lyne Carrington and Ralph Peterson. He began working in the New York jazz scene in the mid 2000s; his first recordings were made in 2007 with the Michael Dease Sextet (Clarity). In the years that followed, he participated in recordings by Hailey Niswanger, Robert Edwards, Kenny Garrett (Pushing the World Away), Takeshi Ohbayashi (Feelin' Lucky), Orrin Evans (Knowing is Half the Battle), Lisa Hilton (Oasis), Sean Jones, and Alexander Claffy (Standards: What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life). Whitfield has also recorded with the American Jazz Association.
Furthermore, Whitfield has performed in shows by Peter Cincotti and Chris Botti, as well as at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals. 2018/19 with Caleb Curtis, Myron Ealden, Asaf Yuria, Theo Hill, and Lucas Pino, among others. In jazz, he was involved in twelve recording sessions between 2007 and 2018. In 2019, he played in the Black Art Jazz Collective (Ascension, 2020).