“We are the light.”
Jonathan W. Whitney is a father, husband, son, artivist, jazz drummer, and composer. He uses his music to search for spaces to find understanding. His works often address the many facets of life lived by a Black person residing in America. Commissions include Cooch’s Bridge | The Family, collaborations with the choreographer Ashley S.K. Davis to craft music for her dance works Divided We Fall (2019) and Ode (owed) to Black Women (2022), When The Two Shall Meet (2019) a large scale work written for the combined ensemble of the modern baroque ensemble Melomanie and the Whitney Project, as well as a separate work, Bedtime (2019), written for Melomanie. He has been a featured artist with the Wilmington Children’s Chorus, the University of Delaware Orchestra, and Melomanie, to name a few. Artists he has performed with include Vernon James, Donald Byrd, Kevin Kirkwood, Lili Añel, Jea Street, Jr., Mike Boone, John Swana, Nadjah Nicole, V. Shayne Fredrick, Maya Belardo, The Chantelles, Tony Smith, and The Bearded Ladies. His debut album, Life's Dimensions (2020), can be found on all platforms. He was a 2020 Delaware Established Artist Fellowship recipient for jazz composition. Jonathan is the artist-in-residence at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew. He has his undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Delaware and a Master's in Music in Jazz Studies from the University of the Arts.
Jonathan grew up in Newark, Delaware, and his father – a former professional drummer with an organ repair business – was his earliest musical influence. Whitney began his musical life by spending hours creating songs on his family's organ and playing drumset along with reel-to-reel recordings of his father's top-40 band. He took piano lessons from age nine through eleven, his only private lessons before beginning formal music studies as an undergraduate. There, his mentor, Vernon James, exposed him to the essence of being a jazz artist, including the importance of composing. Upon graduating, Jonathan became active in the Philadelphia music scene. This period was filled with creative explorations into many genres of music. He then returned to academia, receiving a master's degree in Jazz Studies, during which he focused on composition, drumset, and hand percussion. Now, his music merges jazz idioms with classical forms; the written music acts as a skeleton, allowing the full character to be revealed in performance. His compositions are crafted around melody, pushed by harmony, prodded by counter melody, but led by texture. Whether writing a new commission for a string ensemble or collaborating with a choreographer on a new dance suite, performing with his ensemble, The Whitney Project, or supporting another artist's work, Jonathan looks for spaces to create moments of connection between the music and the audience.