Whitney uses his music to express fluently the artistic, intellectual, innovative, and adventurous side of his persona. Through commanding performances, he is able to use his saxophone to communicate intimately with his audience.
This young musician is on a fast track to success, playing and learning from some of the legends of the industry. He has played with his late professor, James Williams, at Bethany Baptist Church's Jazz Vespers program, the JVC Jazz Festival in Bryant Park, NYC, a live WBGO 'Jazz in the Outdoors' broadcast among other places. A student of saxophone masters including Don Braden, Bruce Williams, and Kenny Garrett, he is also mentored by jazz great Clark Terry and is a member of the legend's "Clark Terry Big Band" which performed in Bern, Switzerland, Birdland, and Bluenote, two of New York's finest jazz clubs.
Outside the world of jazz, Whitney had long been associated with African drumming legend Babatunde Olatunji, who had bestowed the traditional Yoruba blessing upon him when he was born. Whitney could not grow up fast enough to play with the Olatunji Band, and when that time finally arrived he steadily played with the master at S.O.B.'s (Sounds Of Brazil) in New York City, and an outdoor concert in Big Sur, California, which was filmed by the Discovery Channel. Over the years, Slaten had the privilege to talk with "Baba" in depth about West African culture and music. Whitney's experience playing African music, and his early exposure to reggae, blues and Hip-Hop, sparked an interest in ethnomusicology, and has been learning about people and their music from different parts of the world and applies his findings when creating his own music for "The Whitney Slaten Project".
Whitney currently holds a Bachelors of Music in the areas of Jazz Performance and Sound Engineering Arts, a Master of Arts in Ethnomusicology, and is now a PhD student in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University.
MORE HISTORY...
Whitney began his journey in jazz as a sophomore at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School where his band director discovered him. Even though he was far from being among the better musicians in the school, the band director noticed that Whitney had the "ear", a very natural musical talent that would later move him forward in his study of music. After a few basic theory lessons and participation in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's "Jazz for Teens" where he was instructed by Jane Ira Bloom, Bruce Williams, Marcus McLaurine, and Rufus Reid, Whitney was placed in the school's elite big band. During his two years as the lead alto in the group, the band was very successful and Whitney managed to receive praise and solo awards from all of the major competitions that he participated in. At the end of his senior year, Whitney was the winner of the New Jersey Jazz and Blues Foundation's Tal Farlow Scholarship and the New Jersey IAJE Jazz Festival Outstanding Soloist award, among many other local scholarships.
After he graduated high school, Slaten enrolled in Hampton University. There, he began to seriously develop saxophone technique and studied classical theory and audio engineering. In addition to his studies, Whitney was also a member of the school's illustrious "Force" marching band where he and his classmates were able to perform arrangements of popular Hip Hop and R&B tunes. It was there where Slaten realized the importance and relationship of the Blues to American Music.
At the end of his first year at Hampton, Whitney realized that he wanted desperately to formally study jazz music in addition to studying audio engineering in hopes that he will be able to take over his father's sound company and still continue to perform. After applying and getting accepted to Five Towns College, Berkley School of Music, and William Paterson University, Whitney gladly opted to come back home to New Jersey and transferred his credits to the prestigious jazz department at William Paterson. He has been a student of Don Braden and on occasion, outside of school, Kenny Garrett. During his time at William Paterson he had also been a member of many small ensembles including the Latin Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Chico Mendoza and the William Paterson University Big Band under the direction or Dr. David Demsey in addition to many concept ensembles led by master musicians such as Armen Donellian, Richard DeRosa, James Williams, and Harold Mabern to only name a few. |
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