Harley White Jr.
Posted on January 6, 2011 – 1:25 AM | by OldManFoster
By Dennis Yudt Photos by Scott Duncan
While the rain drizzled over Midtown and the Bill Evans Trio whispered a soundtrack in the background, Harley White Jr. turned his head toward the window. Tears rolled down his face, mirroring the raindrops’ slow, hesitant voyage on the pane.
“When friends die, it always knocks you sideways. You never see that coming.” Almost four years have passed since his fellow bass player and close friend, musician Eric Kleven, was killed in an automobile accident but the memory still haunts. “He’s my mentor. I mean, when he passed away…I don’t want to get sad, but I think about him all the time.” But within a few minutes, the 45-year-old musician, promoter, educator and avid supporter of all things musical in Sacramento was laughing about his and Kleven’s last conversation, where Kleven jokingly took White to task over a quote about a peer in the local press.
Calling Midtown home since 1991, Harley White Jr. has been a fixture on stages and classrooms throughout the Sacramento area. His resume staggers as much as his genre-bending talent: Papa’s Culture, his world-beat project, released an album on Elektra Records in 1993; he’s played indie-rock, funk/hip-hop fusion and reggae with Seventy, Original Heads and Dr. Echo respectively; wrote the song “Lucky Day” on Faith Evans’ chart-topping 2005 release, The First Lady; appeared on albums from artists as diverse as Cake, Blackalicious, Melvin Van Peebles, Ben Harper and local poet Jose Montoya; an educator at the Waldorf high school and artist-in-residence at Thomas Jefferson Elementary; lead the “Housecats” and “Take 5” youth jazz ensembles; provided music for television, motion pictures and stage production; won a ‘Best New Faces” honor from Rolling Stone magazine in 1993. But truth be told, this list is a fraction of his achievements. Harley White Jr., as any local musician will tell you, is an essential component of our musical community and works as hard behind the scenes as he does on-stage.
His father, Harley White Sr., is a renowned music educator and a well-regarded jazz bassist in the Bay Area, and the respect, love, and admiration he has for him runs through our conversation. It’s not hard to see why Harley Jr.’s life has taken the trajectory it has;he was raised in a household where musicians held court with impromptu jam sessions and heard stories from regular guests like Charles Mingus’ wife, Sue. The culmination of this musical journey is all rolled up in the Harley White Jr. Orchestra, a small, but incendiary, group that finds the hard blues swing in the music of Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
In our wide-ranging conversation, White riffed on subjects like he would on an old jazz standard. Outspoken, but with the eyes and ears of a seasoned and deeply educated participant, his brash and hold-no-bars opinions were well thought out, full of piss and vinegar, and above all, entertaining as hell. Here are a few of the high points from Mr. White:
On hip-hop: “Hip hop is really a training ground for actors. They don’t mature into artists. Who gives a shit about a 40-year-old rapper? There is nothing more pathetic. You better learn how to act, homie, if you want to stay in the game. Why would Will Smith cut another hip-hop record? Why would (Queen) Latifah go back to hip-hop? Or Ice-T? You name it. Why? There’s no reason. The game’s up when you’re 30. It’s done! Start a clothing label! I can’t support an art form that discards the maturation of its artists. That’s why as an art form, I kind of have to fuck with it.”
On punk rock: “As far as punk rock, you have to give Little Richard the mantle. As far as scaring the shit out of white peoples’ parents… gay, big ass hair, freaky makeup…he was kind of goth but in the ‘50s. This wasn’t 1975 post-Vietnam War… this was still squeaky-clean American… Johnny Lydon was a malcontent in 1975, but to be a malcontent in 1955? And black on top of it? And gay? Can you be any more punk rock?”
On being a professional musician: “Are there any 14 year-old professional firemen? Or 14-year-old professional nurses? I have to compete against 14 year-olds in my profession. There is an apprenticeship that is involved in this. In my profession and in yours – journalism – the line between amateur and professional is so blurred. There are a lot of minimally talented people getting a lot of love in this city. They do! A lot of genres that don’t take that much to be good at get a lot of write-ups in this city. I’m more perplexed by the critics, why they aren’t more critical, more than at the kids.”
Whether it’s the blues, jazz, reggae or whatever genre White finds himself tapped into this week, one can’t help but be impressed not only by his expressive bass work, but by the missionary’s zeal that’s imprinted in his music and his being. For Harley White Jr., it’s not just about the rhythm of the music; it’s about the rhythm of life.
The Harley White Jr. Orchestra will be performing at Harlow’s with Sizzling Sirens Burlesque on January 16, 2011. For more info, go to http://artistdata.sonicbids.com/harley-white-jr
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