Mark Whitfield

An adept guitarist, Mark Whitfield is a highly regarded performer with a sound that touches upon both straight-ahead jazz and soulful R&B. Born in 1966 in Lindenhurst, New York, Whitfield started out on bass and switched to guitar around age 15. Influenced early on by the warm, soulful style of George Benson, he eventually won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. After graduating in 1987, he moved to New York, where Benson himself connected the guitarist to organist Jack McDuff, an association that helped launch his career. Since then, he has performed with a b...