Mark Whitfield graduated from Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music in the spring of 1987. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his to his native New York to embark on a career as a jazz guitarist that afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with legendary artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, Carmen McRae, Gladys Knight, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Smith, Clark Terry, Shirley Horn, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Joe Williams, Stanley Turrentine and his greatest teacher and mentor George Benson.
In 1990 the New York Times dubbed Whitfield "The Best Young Guitarist in the Business". Later that year, Warner Bros. released his debut album "The Marksman". The success of his debut release led to a recording career that has produced a total of 14 solo recordings and a myriad of collaborative efforts with some of the most important artists in recent years; Sting, Steven Tyler, D'Angelo, Mary J. Blige, John Mayer, Chaka Khan, Jill Scott, Diana Krall, Christian McBride, Chris Botti, Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton.
Still yet to discover a guitarist in the world of jazz that has the vibe like Mark .The way He plays , his tonality, composition, arrangements is so captivating that the listener keeps listening to wanna know what's the big thing to come next and to wrap it up the way he dances along his rhythm is so cool 👌. Kudos Mr withfield.
