Publication Date: August 1, 2011

Author: Aaron Cohen

Surprising shifts arise throughout trombonist David White's self-released Flashpoint. He guides his 17-member orchestra through a program of compositions that seamlessly move from extended blues strut ("I'll See You In Court") one moment to soft-focus sereni­ty ("First Lullaby") the next. While White's formal education and on-the-job training sharp­ened the organizational concepts to craft these dynamic moves, he took it upon himself to learn the skills of building an audience.

"Marketing has been a piece missing from any conservatory education;' White said. "There's not much focus on the business aspect. The record labels used to deal with that, but in the 21st century you have to do it yourself. But it's worth the effort to get the chance to hear your own music and play with a bunch of great guys."

New York-based White enrolled in the city's free business classes for budding entre­preneurs and applied those lessons to his path as an independent musician. He also read such books as Seth Godin's Permission Marketing and mapped out how to use its principles about six months before launching a Kickstarter cam­paign to fund the production of Flashpoint and maintain his website (davidwhitejazz.com).

"I went through my address book and wrote each person individually and asked them, 'May I have your permission to send you a once-a-­month newsletter?"' White said. "I found that was more effective than a constant email blast or an event invitation on Facebook every 10 minutes."
 

White's goals for audience building are straightforward.

"If you're self-produced, to be economical­ly viable, you need 1,000 people who will spend $50 on your products per year;' White said. ".So my approach is to build that 1,000-supporter database one person at a time. It's arduous, but it will pay off in the end."

Even with the inherent financial difficulties of big band leadership, White has a classic sound that fits as naturally as his business model. While he was growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., about 15 years ago, there were a number of large ensem­bles in the area and he also played in the city's historic Colored Musicians Club. Bandleader Macy Favor taught him section playing and even let the teenage trombonist solo in his ensem­ble. White began thinking about how to com­bine jazz and symphonic textures while he stud­ied under such musician-teachers as Jim Pugh at Purchase College Conservatory of Music.

"Generally, I'm looking for a more colorful effect," White said. "I want to use the full possi­bilities of the orchestra. I like to get away from the idea that the saxes always have to play as a section, brass has to play as a section. What I wanted to do on those two was mix choirs of instruments. The reason for having an ensemble of that size is to have that giant box of crayons where there are so many possibilities."

After White received his master's degree from Purchase, he taught briefly at a public school in the Bronx. Deplorable conditions at the school crushed his idealism and an alter­cation with an unruly student tore up his knee. But he was able to tum all of that into a fun song, "I Have A Bad Feeling About This." He cites Duke Ellington's example for standing tall in the face of any hindrance (he atTanges Ellington's "David Danced Before The Lord With All His Might" on Flashpoint).

"I look at the dignity he always had: the self-confidence, elegance," White said. "There had to be tremendous pressure on him in the 1930s, but it never showed on his face. He was such a supremely confident person, he just presented his music-it was authentically his and he just said, 'I am a jazz composer."' -Aaron Cohen