Carla White

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title: "Carla White" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1951-births", "2007-deaths", "20th-century-american-singers", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "american-women-jazz-singers", "american-jazz-singers", "deaths-from-cancer-in-new-york-(state)", "diw-records-artists", "jazz-musicians-from-california", "milestone-records-artists", "singers-from-california", "video-game-musicians", "21st-century-american-women"] description: "American jazz singer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_White" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American jazz singer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
name	Carla White
birth_name	Carla Ruth White
birth_date
birth_place	Oakland, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	New York City
genre	Jazz
occupation	Singer
years_active	1980–2007
label	Stash, Milestone, Evidence, Vartan, Jazz Cats, DIW, Bright Moon Records
::

| name = Carla White | image = | birth_name = Carla Ruth White | birth_date = | birth_place = Oakland, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = New York City | genre = Jazz | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1980–2007 | label = Stash, Milestone, Evidence, Vartan, Jazz Cats, DIW, Bright Moon Records

Carla Ruth White (September 15, 1951 – May 9, 2007) was an American jazz vocalist.

Biography

White was born in Oakland, California and raised in Bellport, New York. Her father, Dwain, was also born in Oakland and worked as an airline pilot. Her mother, Rosa, was born in Indiana and served on several artistic foundation boards later in her life.  Her parents divorced early in White’s life, though when they divorced is unclear; her mother was married to physicist Frederick Ayer from 1966 until his death. White’s siblings, Penny and Miles, predeceased her.

Though she began dancing at an early age, White decided to pursue jazz dance after a friend introduced her to jazz as a teenager. She began dancing and acting at the Northwestern University dance and drama camp over the course of two summers, and spent her final year of high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she studied theater. She moved to London in 1969 to attend Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She dropped out before finishing the degree in order to pursue singing; she then spent a short period traveling and busking through Europe and North Africa.

She returned to New York City and took music lessons intermittently during the 1970s with Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh. In 1979 she met trumpeter Manny Duran, who became her mentor. They formed the White-Duran Band and recorded the album Andruline for Stash. White died from cancer on May 9, 2007, in New York.

Personal life

White was the niece of Broadway costume designer Miles White.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

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Dates recorded	Title	Label	Year released	Notes
March 21–22, 1983	Andruline	Stash	1984	Co-leader with Manny Duran (trumpet). Recorded with Ed Howard (bass), Peter Madsen (piano), and Taro Okamoto (drums).
December 20, 1985	Orient Express	Milestone	1987	Recorded with Peter Barshay (bass), Manny Duran (trumpet, "The Man with the Trumpet"), Ed Howard (bass), Tim Horner (drums), Jeremy Kahn (piano), and Peter Madsen (piano). Recorded “Orient Express” and “ I’ll Remember April” with Kahn and Barshay on December 20, 1985. White wrote the tracks "Orient Express" and "Snowbound."
April 4–6, 1988	Mood Swings	Milestone	1988	Recorded with Peter Madsen (piano), Phil Bowler (bass), Tim Horner (drums), Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone, flute), and Joshua Breakstone (guitar).
September 4–5, 1991	Listen Here	Evidence	1995	Recorded with Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone, alto flute) Peter Madsen (piano) Dean Johnson (Bass) Lewis Nash (drums). Madsen composed "Dream" using the poetry of Langston Hughes.
October 29, 1994	In Mexico	Jazz Cat	2000	Recorded with Roberto Aymes (contra bass, musical direction), Fernando Toussaint (drums), and Luis Zepeda (piano).
April 21–22, 1995	Live at Vartan Jazz	Vartan Jazz	1998	Recorded with Jerry Hahn (guitar), Joe LaBarbera (drums), Mark Soskin (piano), and Harvie Swartz (bass). Liner notes mistakenly state that this album was recorded in 1996.
July 26–27, 1996	The Sweetest Sounds	DIW	2000	Recorded with Steve Berrios (percussion), Dean Johnson (bass), Peter Madsen (piano), Tom Rainey (drums), and Lew Tabackin (tenor saxophone). White wrote the track "But I Was Wrong."
September 8–9, 2001	A Voice in the Night	Bright Moon Records	2005	Recorded with John Hart (guitar), Dean Johnson (bass), Claudio Roditi (trumpet, flugelhorn), and Matt Wilson (drums). White wrote the track "Peace of Mind."
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Other recordings

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Album	Year	Notes
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Original Soundtrack	2001	White featured on credits track "Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday," composed by Rika Muranaka. Recorded with Onaje Allan Gumbs (piano), Don Braden (saxophone), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Kenny Davis (bass), Eugene Jackson (drums), and the Felix Farrar Orchestra.
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References

References

1. "Carla White Biography." 1992. White, Carla. The Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.
2. "Rosa Ayer Obituary (2009) - Seattle, WA - The Seattle Times".
3. (2008). "The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide". Backbeat.
4. (May 20, 2007). "Carla White Obituary".
5. (February 20, 2000). "Paid Death Notice: WHITE, MILES". New York Times Company.
6. (September 16, 1984). "Dwain Houston White Obituary". New York Times.
7. Provizer, Norman. (April 20, 1995). "Country Club Hosts Pianist Grant". Rocky Mountain News.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::