The Whitfield Family Band-Mark Strickland Quartet

The Whitfield Family Band
Along the way the “Whitfield Family Band” was born, literally. In 1994 The Mark Whitfield Quartet appeared on the Thanksgiving Day broadcast of Good Morning America. This performance featured a very special guest drummer, 4 year old Mark Whitfield Jr. It was obvious even then that he was destined for greatness. Following in his father’s footsteps he attended the Berklee College of Music and graduated in 2011 with honors. He went on to study for his Masters Degree at the Manhattan School of Music while simultaneously embarking on a career as a drummer extraordinaire. He has quickly earned a reputation as one of the best young drummers in Jazz and was nominated for a Grammy in 2014 as part of the ensemble featured on Kenny Garrett’s 2013 release “Pushing the World Away”. Not to be outdone by his older brother, Davis Whitfield, a prodigious pianist, earned a Presidential Scholarship and graduated from the Berklee College of Music with honors in 2014. Together, the “Whitfield Family Band” has created an exciting new sound.

Mark Strickland Quartet
Mark Strickland is an American guitarist influenced by Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass and Jazz and R&B legends.

Mark began playing in 1963 in Pittsburgh, PA, mentored by the regional R&B and Jazz greats such as Luther Dejarunett (performed with Jimmy McGriff, Groove Holmes), Pete Henderson (performed with Stanley Turrentine, Ahmad Jamal), J. Spencer Bey (performed with Sonny Stitt) and the many others who performed in the renowned Jazz clubs of the region such as the Crawford Grill, the Hurricane, the Loendi and the Roosevelt Theatre.