White, Amos (Mordechai)
White, Amos (Mordechai)
White, Amos (Mordechai), cornetist; b. King-stree, S.C., Nov. 6, 1889; d. Alameda, Calif., July 1980. Orphaned at the age of nine, he entered Jenkins7 Orphanage in Charleston, S.C. He began playing cornet, and later toured with the orphanage band. He studied at the Benedict Coll., S.C, then returned to the orphanage, did some teaching there, and also did more touring. From 1913 until 1918 he worked with circus shows and minstrel bands. He served in the 816th Pioneer Infantry Band in France (1918-), then settled in New Orleans. He worked as a type-setter, but gigged with many leaders: Papa Celestin, Armand Pirón, George Moret and with The Excelsior. He led his own band at The Spanish Fort before joining Fate Marable on the S.S. Capitol. White worked on and off with Marable until 1924, and worked with The Alabamians (under Ed Howard) in 1925. He then toured with Mamie Smith (1927), led The Georgia Minstrels (1928), then played with Harvey’s Radio Minstrels(1928). He settled in Phoenix, Ariz., worked with Bradley’s Dublin Orch. (1929), then led his own band and worked with Gregorio Goyer, W, Gills, Felipe Lopez, etc. White moved to Oakland, Calif., in 1934, ran his own part-time band and did local gigs. He owned a print shop for many years, during the 1960s, and continued to play occasional dates with marching bands.
—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter