Gene T. White
Conductor - Arranger - Musician
Gene White has enjoyed a career that has touched every facet of the music business. He spent most of the 1960's involved with Big Band music. Working out of Dallas, Texas he toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra under Ray McKinley as well as with the bands of Tex Beneke, Les Elgart, Si Zentner, and others. In 1968-69 he was General Manager and Chief Arranger for the Ted Weems Orchestra. The remainder of 69 and most of 1970 was spent as Musical Director for the "Miss Sammy Jo Show" working Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe, and major showrooms across the country. From 1971 thru 1973, under a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Mr. White and a seven piece jazz ensemble presented educational jazz concerts and music-education clinics in colleges and high schools in a five-state Arts Council program in the upper Midwest.
After a tour as a pianist with the Four Lads and also with Paula Kelly and the Modernaires, he moved to Minneapolis to form his new show group "Gene White and Friends". After touring showrooms throughout the country for several years, this group settled into a two and a half year engagement at McGuire's Inn in St. Paul, Minnesota. During his stay there Mr. White wrote a new stage revue every eight weeks.
In 1978 he left the Twin Cities to accept a position as house Musical Director and Orchestra Leader at the Executive Inn in Owensboro, Kentucky. There he furnished orchestras for such artist as Sammy Davis, Jr., Englebert Humperdinck, Wayne Newton, Jack Jones, Charo, the Spinners, the Mills Brothers, and many more. During this period the album "A TRIBUTE TO GLENN MILLER" featuring Paula Kelly and the Modernaires was released. Mr. White served as Musical Director and Orchestral Arranger for the recording. It became the number one Big Band album of 1980.
In 1981 Gene moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he formed the vocal group Fifth Avenue. Over WAMB Radio the "Music of Your Life" station in Nashville, The Gene White 14 piece Orchestra and Fifth Avenue broadcast a weekly radio show in the Big Band tradition.
For most of 1983 Mr. White lived in Balboa, California as a free lance writer/arranger. In the winter of 1984 he made a nation-wide tour (including Canada) with COLUMBIA ARTISTS' "Big Band Show", which starred Johnny Desmond, Helen Forrest, and the Modernaires. On this tour Gene served as Conductor, Pianist, Company Manager and also wrote special arrangements for the tour.
Since then Mr. White has resided in Nevada. In the fall of 1984 he produced the mini-revue "Class Action" performing at the Aladdin Hotel and the Royal Casino Hotel in Las Vegas. Moving the act to Laughlin, Nevada, he accepted a postion as Musical Director at the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino where he wrote and produced several successful house shows and revues. He also created the weekly radio show "JUMPIN' AT THE RIVERSIDE". In February of 1987 Mr. White returned to Las Vegas.
During1987 and 1988 he served as Musical Director at Bob Stupak's Vegas World Hotel, supplying the orchestras and conducting for such entertainers as Tony Martin, Johnnie Ray, Allen and Rossi, the DeCastro Sisters, and other headliners appearing in the Galaxy Showroom. In addition, Gene has rescored the entire musical score for "Legends In Concert", the long running hit show at the Imperial Palace. Currently Gene is one of the shows musical arrangers, and is involved with the music reparation, as well as maintaining the show's massive library.
Since 1989 and up to the present, Mr. White and his company Gene White Music Service has been supplying various size orchestras and bands to major Las Vegas Hotels for their main showrooms and corporate conventions. Eddie Fisher, Al Martino, the Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca Show, Vic Damone, Connie Francis, Red Buttons, Patti Page, Jerry Vale, Keely Smith, are just a few of the stars that the Gene White Orchestra has performed with.
In 1993 thru 1995 Gene created, produced, and performed on the Big Band Radio Show "Swing Street" which featured his 21 piece orchestra. The show was aired locally in Las Vegas every Saturday morning on KORK Radio AM 920. It was recorded before a live audience in the main showroom at the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino.
As well as performing with his bands and orchestras, Mr. White is currently very active in writing musical arrangements for varous artists in Las Vegas and throughout the country. He also writes arrangements for production shows for Disney World, Crown Cruise Lines, Royal Carribean Cruise Lines, and other major venues. Gene also writes for several high school and college bands across the United States.