Grammy-award winning keyboardist George Whitty has spent 30 years playing on the road with the Brecker Brothers, Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, Richard Bona, Chaka Khan, Sadao Watanabe, and a dozen others, and his resume as a session musician and producer includes some of the best-selling records of all time: Santana’s “Supernatural” (with Dave Matthews), Celine Dion’s “Falling Into You” and “These are Special Times”, and more than 300 other CDs. As a producer/keyboardist, his Grammy-winning streak began with Chaka Khan’s “The Woman I Am” in 1992 and extends through 3 award-winning releases with the Brecker Brothers, most recently Randy Brecker’s “34th and Lex”, 2004’s Grammy-winner for Contemporary Jazz Record of the Year. In April 2010, he completed work on several tracks for Herbie Hancock’s CD “The Imagine Project”, programming Herbie’s live rig for the tour as well. As a composer, he’s written for hundreds of episodes of television and several award-winning films, composing for a dozen shows from “The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot” to “As the World Turns”, for which he was nominated for a 2006 Emmy award. In 2014 he won an Emmy award for scoring the long-running series “All My Children”. George recently finished the score to the feature film comedy “The Getdown”, which is in the rotation on Showtime, and has recently been working with Herbie Hancock, both as keyboardist in Herbie’s band at the Hollywood Bowl for 2012s “Concert for Peace”, and as an arranger/keyboardist, recently completing several orchestral arrangements for a duo CD for Herbie and classical pianist Lang Lang. George arranged 3 classic Herbie pieces for the LA Philharmonic’s 100th Anniversary Concert at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring Herbie and his band, and for a performance by Herbie at Disney hall in Los Angeles. In March of 2020 he arranged several pieces for full orchestra for Residente’s sold-out performance with the LA Phil, the night after 2 more pieces he arranged for Herbie Hancock premiered at Disney Hall. In May, 2018, George and his trio Third Rail played a nearly sold-out 3 nights at the Cotton Club in Tokyo. In 2020 George finished production and writing on a duo CD for Eric Marienthal and Randy Brecker, “Double Dealin'”, in addition to a number of other CD projects. In addition to all of his studio playing, producing and arranging projects, George maintains a busy schedule as a touring artist, currently playing around the world with Frank Gambale’s band, David Sanborn, Randy Brecker, Armand Sabal-Lecco (Paul Simon bassist), and Chris Minh Doky, in addition to ongoing Third Rail projects. He is currently mixing and mastering a steady stream of CDs, conducting clinics and master classes and teaching around the world. In the summer of 2015 he became the Jazz Piano instructor at Artistworks.com, the leading online lessons website. In between all his musical activities, he enjoys life in the mountains outside Los Angeles with his 2 boys and 2 cats.
“The set kicked off with 2003’s “Comin’ Home Baby,” a spacey, atmospheric groove that provided a background to showcase Sanborn’s wildly talented keyboardist and organist, George Whitty.” – The Buffalo (NY) News, 05.21.07
CURRENT PROJECTS:
Eric Marienthal and Randy Brecker Currently producing, playing on, mixing, and writing for a duo CD on Shanachie Records for Eric Marienthal and Randy Brecker, due out in February, 2020.
Randy Brecker: Currently playing with Randy Brecker and the Brecker Bros. Reunion Band, featuring Will Lee, Dave Weckl, Mike Stern, Oli Rockberger and Ada Rovatti. The band played a nearly sold-out week at the Blue Note New York, and filmed a live DVD there on Saturday night of the week, which I mixed as well. Also producing, arranging, mixing and playing on Randy’s forthcoming CD, featuring David Sanborn.
Herbie Hancock and the Los Angeles Philharmonic: Arrranged and orchestrated several of Herbie’s pieces for full orchestra. These (among them arrangements of “Rockit” and “Butterfly”) will be featured at the Hollywood Bowl with Herbie and the LA Philharmonic on September 30, 2018, and at Disney Hall on October 13, 2018. Arranging another piece for the LA Phil to play with Herbie in November, 2019.
Drew Zingg: Wrote and arranged several pieces for the debut CD by long-time Steely Dan/Boz Scaggs guitarist Drew Zingg, and played all keyboards on the sessions, featuring Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Vinnie Colaiuta, Will Lee, and several other guest artists.
Numerous CD Projects: Chris Buck: 3 Crows – played keyboards and mixed this great disc featuring Virgil Donati, Chris Taylor, Marco Minneman, Brett Garsed. Jeff Richman – played keyboards, programmed percussion, did some arranging on this disc produced by Jimmy Haslip, got to hear Steve Gadd replace my drums! Tom Kennedy – Mastered Tom’s excellent straight-ahead CD “Just Play”. Buddy Williams – mixing for Buddy’s first CD, featuring a lot of old-school soul and killer writing, with a groove the way only Buddy can do it. Gary Haase – arranging, playing keys, programming percussion and mixing for a CD of jazz interpretations of classical themes for my long-time partner-in-crime and one of my favorite musicians.
Live Performances/Tours: Live performances in the past year include road work with Frank Gambale, Randy Brecker, Herbie Hancock & Carlos Santana at the Hollywood Bowl, David Sanborn, Chris Minh Doky and the Nomads, and my own trio “Third Rail”, featuring Janek Gwizdala and Tom Brechtlein.
SELECTED RECENT CREDITS AND EXPERIENCE:
CD PROJECTS:
Drew Zingg: Drew Zingg – keyboards, arranger, composer (5 songs).
The Imagine Project: Herbie Hancock – keyboards, synthesizer orchestration.
Supernatural: Carlos Santana and Dave Matthews – keyboards.
34th and Lex: Randy Brecker – Producer, Keyboards/programming, Mix Engineer. 2004 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
Falling Into You: Celine Dion – Keyboards, programming, arrangements
Tales from the Hudson: Michael Brecker – Producer. 1996 Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album
These Are Special Times: Celine Dion – Keyboards, Arranger
The Woman I Am: Chaka Khan – Producer, Keyboards, Programming, Arranger. Grammy for Best R & B Vocal Performance
Time Is Of The Essence: Michael Brecker – Producer. Nominated for 2001 Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album
Till The End Of Forever: Michael Bolton – Keyboards, Mix Engineer
Out of the Loop: The Brecker Brothers – Producer, keyboards, arranger. 1995 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
TOURS:
This Rail (featuring Janek Gwizdala and Tom Brechtlein)
2013-2019
Frank Gambale: 2018-2019
David Sanborn: 1999-2011
Randy Brecker: 1992-2019
Chris Minh Doky: 2002-2019
Sadao Watanabe feat. Richard Bona: 2001-2004
The Brecker Brothers: 1992-1997
FILM:
The Getdown – Scored this feature comedy film, currently in the rotation on Cinemax
ASCAP’s Harold Arlen Award for Orchestral scoring, out of 300+ applicants
One Life to Live – Won a 2014 Emmy award for scoring this long-running TV serial
Jinx! (dark comedy) directed by Adam Baran. Bought by the Independent Film Channel
ASCAP’s Film and TV Scoring Workshop – 1 of 12 selected worldwide for this boot camp for the best young composers
Cleansing (supernatural thriller) directed by Sean Kreminitskiy
One (suspense/action/drama) directed by Sean K. Won Gold Medal for Best Score, 2008 Park City Film Music Festival
Open Season (drama) directed by Joseph Caldwell. Nominated for Best Director, Best Drama, Hollywood DV Film Festival
Chi (action/martial arts) directed by Chris Vallone. Nominated for Best Action Sequence, Action on Film Festival
Bad Dream (dark comedy) directed by Eduardo Benchoam. Screened at HBO’s NY Int’l Latino Film Festival
Breaking All Records (documentary) directed by Christopher Vallone
The Cask of Amontillado (horror/drama) directed by Sean K
Several dozen examples of this work are available under the “Music” tab.
TELEVISION:
The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliot – Reality series
MTV’s Stankervision – Sketch comedy series
The Entertainer – Reality Series
Science Times – “Living With Fire” – Discovery Channel Documentary
As the World Turns – Nominated for an Emmy for my work on this show