Michael White

Spirit Dance and Pneuma were jazz violinist Michael White's first two albums as a leader. Both were originally issued by Impulse in 1972. They'd been available previously only as Japanese imports, but this two-fer in Universal's Impulse! 2 on 1 series marks their first issue on the format in the West. Before recording Spirit Dance in 1971, White had worked with Pharoah Sanders on Thembi, and with Alice Coltrane when she overdubbed the strings on John Coltrane's infamous Infinity album. Previous to this, he'd recorded with John Handy, and with the early fusion group Fourth Way, which also included percussionist Kenneth Nash and pianist Mike Nock. Spirit Dance reveals White's arrival as a fully formed - and very democratic - bandleader, with a specific, uplifting vision…

A pleasant album by the drummer Michael White, featuring a lot of stars from jazz-funk as Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Gerald Albright, Byron Miller, John Beasley, Doc Powell and many others.

Still relatively unknown nearing the end of the 1970s, this talented violinist turned to George Duke to produce, arrange and hopefully reach some ears. The result for the most part is enjoyable but unremarkable jazz-pop-soul. On tunes like "The Red Planet," though, he's right there with the glory days of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Billy Cobham. It suggests what might have been for White before Jean-Luc Ponty staked out the high ground on the jazz violin landscape.