04.01.14
GEORGEWHITTY
George Whitty
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george@
gwhitty.com
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310-488-9068
Keyboardist, Producer, Composer
Grammy-award winning
keyboardist George Whitty
has spent 20 years playing on the
road with the Brecker Brothers,
David Sanborn, Richard Bona,
Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock,
and a dozen others, and his
resume as a session musician
includes some of the best-selling
records of all time: Santana's
"Supernatural" (with Dave
Matthews), Celine Dion's "Falling
Into You" and "These are Special
Times", and more than 100 other
CDs. As a producer/keyboardist,
his Grammy-winning streak began
with Chaka Khan's "The Woman I
Am" in 1992 and extends through
3 award-winning releases with the
Brecker Brothers, most recently
Randy Brecker's "34th and Lex",
2004's Grammy-winner for
Contemporary Jazz Record of the
Year, which he also mixed. In April
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2010, he completed work on
several tracks for Herbie
Hancock's CD "The Imagine
Project", programming Herbie’s
live rig for the tour as well. In
August 2012, George played the
“Concert For Peace” with Herbie,
Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter
and an all-star band. As a
composer, he's written for
hundreds of episodes of television
and several award-winning films,
composing for a dozen shows
from "The Road to Stardom with
Missy Elliot" to "As the World
Turns", for whose music he was
nominated for a 2006 Emmy
award. He was awarded a 2014
Emmy for his work on “All My
Children”. George recently
finished the score to the feature
film, "The Getdown”, now in the
rotation on Showtime, and has
been touring the world as
keyboardist with David Sanborn,
Chris Minh Doky & the Nomads,
his own trio Third Rail, and with an
extraordinary solo show, working
on several CD projects,
conducting clinics and master
classes and teaching private
lessons around the world, and
enjoying life in the mountains
outside Los Angeles with his two
small boys.
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"The set kicked off with
2003's "Comin' Home
Baby," a spacey,
atmospheric groove that
provided a background to
showcase Sanborn's wildly
talented keyboardist and
organist, George Whitty." The Buffalo (NY) News,
05.21.07
GEORGEWHITTY
"Sanborn has assembled an able quintet,
though none more so than Whitty, whose style
and technique is at least as highly developed
and multitextured as Sanborn's." - The Buffalo
News, 05.21.07
On YouTube:
"“Do A Little Dance”: Third Rail - G Whitty, J
Gwizdala, T Brechtlein Live in Cologne
”First Tune of the Set”: Brecker Bros. Band
Reunion live at the Blue Note 2011
“Above and Below” The Brecker Brothers
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CURRENT PROJECTS as of 04/2014:"
Third Rail: George’s trio with Etienne M’Bappe on bass and Tom Brechtlein on drums played its second European tour May 22 June 8, 2014, and released its first CD, “Ignition: Live Across Europe” in May ‘14. Recorded on the band’s first tour of Europe in
December 2013, the CD features tunes by George and Janek Gwizdala (bassist on the first tour). For info, click here."
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Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter: Arranged several pieces by Herbie and Wayne for full orchestra. The first of these,
“Sonrisa” premiered with the Calgary Philharmonic featuring Herbie Hancock, and continued on to the Oregon Symphony and the
Seattle Symphony. Also programming keyboards, loops, and backing tracks for Herbie’s solo concert series."
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Clinics, Master classes and Workshops: Recent workshops on improvisation, keyboard approaches, production and arranging
include, from December 2013: Pop-Akademie, Mannheim, Germany and the Osnabrück Institut für Musik, Osnabrück, Germany. "
George’s online music instruction series, featuring more than 70 online video lessons, is also online at www.musicpath.net "
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CMD and the Nomads: In their 6th year together, Chris Minh Doky, Dave Weckl, Dean Brown and George released their first live
CD, “The Board Tapes” in March of 2014, and are touring extensively in Europe and Scandinavia in 2014 and 2015. "
Randy Brecker: Currently playing with Randy Brecker and the Brecker Bros. Reunion Band, featuring Will Lee, Dave Weckl, Mike
Stern, and Ada Rovatti. The band played a nearly sold-out week at the Blue Note New York, and filmed a live DVD there on
Saturday night, which George mixed. Also producing, arranging, mixing and playing on Randy’s forthcoming CD, featuring David
Sanborn."
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Drew Zingg: Wrote and arranged several pieces for the debut CD by long-time Steely Dan/Boz Scaggs guitarist Drew Zingg, and
played all keyboards on the sessions, featuring Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Vinnie Colaiuta, Will Lee, and several other guest
artists."
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GEORGEWHITTY
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SELECTED RECENT CREDITS AND EXPERIENCE:!
CD PROJECTS:"
Ignition: Third Rail - keyboards, composer, producer, mix & mastering engineer."
The Imagine Project: Herbie Hancock - keyboards, synthesizer orchestration. "
Supernatural: Carlos Santana and Dave Matthews - keyboards. "
34th and Lex: Randy Brecker - Producer, Keyboards/programming, Mix Engineer. 2004 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz
Album"
Falling Into You: Celine Dion - Keyboards, programming, arrangements"
Till The End Of Forever: Michael Bolton - Keyboards, Mix Engineer"
These Are Special Times: Celine Dion - Keyboards, Arranger"
The Woman I Am: Chaka Khan - Producer, Keyboards, Programming, Arranger. Grammy for Best R & B Vocal Performance"
Time Is Of The Essence: Michael Brecker - Producer. Nominated for 2001 Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album"
Tales from the Hudson: Michael Brecker - Producer. 1996 Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album"
Out of the Loop: The Brecker Brothers - Producer, keyboards, arranger. 1995 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album"
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TOURS:"
David Sanborn: 1999-2010"
Randy Brecker: 1992-2011"
Chris Minh Doky: 2002-2010"
Sadao Watanabe feat. Richard Bona: 2001-2004"
The Brecker Brothers: 1992-1997"
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FILM:"
03.11 The Getdown - Scored this feature comedy film"
11.07 ASCAP's Harold Arlen Award for Orchestral scoring, out of 300+ applicants"
07.07 Jinx! (dark comedy) directed by Adam Baran. Bought by the Independent Film Channel"
07.07 ASCAP's Film and TV Scoring Workshop - 1 of 12 selected worldwide for this boot camp for the best young composers "
03.07 Cleansing (supernatural thriller) directed by Sean Kreminitskiy"
01.07 One (suspense/action/drama) directed by Sean K. Won Gold Medal for Best Score, 2008 Park City Film Music Festival"
10.06 Open Season (drama) directed by Joseph Caldwell. Nominated for Best Director, Best Drama, Hollywood DV Film Festival"
06.06 Chi (action/martial arts) directed by Chris Vallone. Nominated for Best Action Sequence, Action on Film Festival"
02.06 Bad Dream (dark comedy) directed by Eduardo Benchoam. Screened at HBO's NY Int'l Latino Film Festival"
06.05 The Cask of Amontillado (horror/drama) directed by Sean K"
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Several dozen film and TV cues, most with video, are available here: lwww.gwhitty.com "
TELEVISION:"
The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot - Reality series"
MTV's Stankervision - Sketch comedy series"
The Entertainer - Reality Series"
Science Times - "Living With Fire" - Discovery Channel Documentary"
As the World Turns - Nominated for an Emmy for my work on this show"
The Gorge Games - Adventure/extreme sports competition"