07 Apr 2009 THE musician, Peter White, has a personal philosophy of never pushing to get his way in life. At the Cape Town Jazz Festival last Saturday night White gave his fans a rewarding performance at a packed Kippies Stage at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Prior to the show, one could sense the exitement of fans as they waited for the 54 year old acoustic guitarist’s imminent performance. As I was not familiar with his music, I asked his awaiting fans what they knew about the artist, “Peter White is the most brilliant guitarist, you’ll love him. I own all of his albums. The track that made him famous over here (in South Africa) is San Diego.”

Another fan overhearing the spirited conversation, quickly interjected, wanting to know if she also owned the Caravan of Dreams album. Once she confirmed this, he responded in admiration, “Ahhh that’s awesome, I’m looking all over for that one!” Having had the privilege to meet the person behind the musician first, it came as quite a suprise to see how this quiet, unassuming and soft spoken musician, simply comes to life on stage. In certain parts of the show, he even had his audience in stitches when he conjured up the introductory part of the James Bond theme song with his guitar and then ending it with an exploding sound that resembled a gunshot from 007’s very own handgun, while pointing the neck of the guitar towards the audience.

During the interview earlier that day, one noticed a tangibly loving relationship with his eight-year-old daughter, Charlotte, who stood behind him peeping over his shoulder for most of the interview. As she was affectionately wrapping her arms around her dad’s neck,  he said “Can you believe it; I have relatives living right here in Cape Town! “I’ve known that I was going to perform in Cape Town for almost three months. Just last week it suddenly dawned on me that I could go and meet up with them.” So White and his daughter spent their time strenghtening family ties, enjoying the sunny weather with long walks along Blouberg Strand and good food at a renowned restaurant in the area.

The guitarist grew up in the small English town of Letchworth Garden City inspired by the UK, band Acoustic Alchemy and the Beatles. He started his professional career in 1975 with Al Stewart and played on Stewart’s million seller, Year of the Cat. This musical relationship continued for 20 years and meanwhile in 1990 he launched his debut album, Reveillez-Voux, as bandleader and has since released nine others, featuring the likes of Grover Washington Jnr., Jonathan Butler and Dave Koz. Ever since switching to smooth jazz, he has won one award after the other and was voted best musician in the 2007 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards.

“I’m a travelling musician. It’s a job. In the life of a musician like me, you’re lucky if you work 100 days a year,” said White, whose most fun time is spent performing on cruise ships such as the Smooth Jazz Cruise hosted by Wayman Tisdale. “I love to play on these cruises; you meet lots of people from all over the world,” he said.

True to his philosophy of not being pushy, White says, “I could never imagine that someone like Earl Klugh would one day want to collaborate with me, but it happened! Just as I could never have imagined that I would have the opportunity to play in South Africa.”

He said about his audience on Saturday, “Ah, it was great! It seemed to me as the show progressed, more and more people kept streaming in. I felt a wonderful connection with them.”

Asked about how he met his wife, Robin Pao, it took a few moments of mental data processing: he recalls her being introduced to him by friends and meeting her again at one of his performances. “At that stage I had already got over my natural shyness and plucked up the courage to meet with her after the show. She told me she saw me on stage, and told her I found that odd as I conciously stood with my back towards the audience. “Well,” she said, “it wasn’t your face I was looking at,” he recalled with a naughty smile, that lit up his eyes.

“Dad, why wasn’t mommy looking at your face?” came the question from Charlotte and he repeats the whole story all over again. Charlotte thought for a while and said, “Oh, so she was looking at your back?”
“That’s absolutely correct, my dear,” he replied with another of those naughty smiles.

Despite White’s unwillingness to acknowledge his popularity as a musician, just judging by the capacity-filled show, one can surely start placing your bets that he’ll be finding his way performing back here in South Africa; without ever having to nudge, push or shove.?.?.

Good news for fans is that White is distributing a limited collection of his earlier albums, not available in South Africa, through a private agent. Phone 072 266 4760.

Peter White - Promenade (2004)