About me
“For Jimmy, Wes and Oliver,” a recording by the Christian McBride Big Band featuring Mark Whitfield and Joey DeFrancesco, received the 2022 GRAMMY Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble. This is the most recent collaboration between Whitfield and McBride, a musical relationship that began over 30 years ago when they were both featured members of the Jazz Futures, an All-Star Jazz Band that also launched the career of the late Roy Hargrove.
Mark Whitfield graduated from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music in the spring of 1987. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his native New York to embark on a career as a jazz guitarist that has afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with such legendary artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Carmen McRae, Gladys Knight, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Smith, Clark Terry, Shirley Horn, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine and his mentor, the great George Benson.
In 1990 the New York Times dubbed Whitfield “The Best Young Guitarist in the Business.” Later that year, Warner Bros. released his debut album The Marksman. The success of his debut led to a recording career that has produced a total of 16 solo recordings and a myriad of collaborative efforts with Sting, Steven Tyler, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, John Mayer, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Diana Krall, Chris Botti, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Robert Glasper and the aforementioned Christian McBride.
Mark Whitfield remains extremely active as a performer, recording artist and sideman and as a highly sought after instructor and master clinician.
