Wilbur Whitta is an award-winning pianist and composer of contemporary jazz and improvised music. He is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied on a scholarship for two years. Upon graduating with distinction he was awarded the Diploma of the Royal Academy of Music (DipRAM), a prize given for outstanding performance in a postgraduate level final recital.
Interviewed by Barry O’Sullivan
When did jazz music first enter your life and who were the musicians that mostly influenced you?
I first encountered jazz while taking classical piano lessons in high school. At some point my teacher started to give me transcriptions of jazz pianists Oscar Peterson and George Shearing to learn, which was a great intro. I was then fortunate enough to attend the fantastic pre-tertiary course run at the time by the ANU School of Music, for my last two years of high school. This involved weekly theory/history classes, ensemble groups and private lessons. Here I began learning with jazz pianist Luke Sweeting who was a great teacher. I’d never heard a jazz pianist playing live in the flesh before my lessons with Luke and it blew me away to hear it. Some of my early favourite jazz musicians were Oscar Peterson, Wayne Shorter (and his ‘60s Blue Note albums) and contemporary jazz pianist Aaron Parks.
When did you decide on a musical career and where have you studied?
I think that having a career in music was something I always wanted to do, but I had no idea if it was possible. Moving out of my hometown of Canberra to a bigger city seemed like a logical next step to scope out this goal I moved to Sydney to study at the Conservatorium. I had a great cohort at the con, and learnt from some amazing teachers such as Mike Nock, Simon Barker and James Muller. After graduating, I was eager to check out the music scenes in the northern hemisphere, so ended up moving to London to do my master’s at the Royal Academy of Music. Here I studied with many amazing teachers, but the one who became an important mentor figure for me was pianist/organist Kit Downes. Those two years in London were vital for the formation of my sense of where I wanted to go with my music and what I wanted to sound like. You’ve performed in various ensembles as a bandleader and ensemble member in duets, quartets and other musical combinations.
How does each experience differ for you personally?
Sometimes there are quite tangible differences. For instance, I do a lot of organ playing, where I’m required to play the bass part with my left hand, and melodic/ harmony parts with my right hand and sometimes it’s more subtle. For me, the important thing is remembering not to change the way I play too much, just because I might think something is different or lacking if I were playing in a solo or duo context. I enjoy getting to play a lot of different styles, from straight ahead jazz through to free improvisation, and while these experiences do differ, I find that the answer to adapting is usually just listening carefully to what’s happening around me in the music.
What is your current musical project and how has it evolved and progressed so far?
My most recent musical project has been my band Wildfire. We’ve just released our debut album on ABC Jazz and conducted a NSW tour to launch the album. The band features me on piano and synthesiser, Tom Avgenicos on trumpet, Jack Stoneham on saxophone and Alex InmanHislop on drums. This group has existed for a couple of years now. I tried to organise our first ever gigs in 2021/2022 and thge lockdowns and restrictions sadly put a stop to our first attempts to perform. Eventually we got around to performing and some preliminary recording then we were given the opportunity to record with ABC Jazz through their Jazz Scholarship scheme. This was an incredible opportunity and I’m extremely grateful. We recorded our debut album in April 2023 and released it a year later. This band is a lot of fun, with lots of intricate material balanced by the incredible freedom that Tom, Jack and Alex bring to the music. You are home alone on a Sunday evening and want to chill listening to your favourite music.
What would you choose and why?
I think that would probably change week to week! I like to try and keep a bit of a balance in what I listen to. There’s so much great jazz/improvised music out there, I find it very easy to just get caught up listening exclusively to that. So, a bit of style/genre balance can be good. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of choral music, from Morten Lauridsen to the Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, alongside some Chick Corea, Paul Motian and Reinier Baas.
For more information about Wilbur Whitta, visit wilburwhitta.com
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