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26-39 Lenny

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trapsmagazine.com

Page 25

Summer 2008

TRAPS 25

26-39 Lenny

3/21/08

5:36 PM

Page 26

LENNY WHITE

CHAPTER ONE RTF (SLIGHT RETURN)

I

n the basement of his New Jersey home, located just minutes from
Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge, Lenny White is showing off his bicep. “Feel this,” he says, making a fist and flexing his left arm. It is rock hard and bulging, like Schwarzenegger circa his
Pumping Iron days. Not bad for a guy who is closing in on 60 (he’ll be
59 on December 19 of this year). “Now feel this,” he says, offering his right bicep for inspection. It is half the size with none of the musculature of that

mighty left bicep. “Rotary cuff surgery,” he explains. “I had orthoscopic back on September 20. They didn’t replace the shoulder; they just went in there and cleaned it out. All the muscles in my right shoulder atrophied and I’ve been trying to build it back up for the last four months. I had nothing … zero, man. I couldn’t play for 30 seconds on a pad it was so bad. And so I’ve been getting it back gradually.”
The shoulder injury, however, didn’t prevent White from flying to Los Angeles the previous week to participate in rehearsals and a group photo session in preparation for the much-anticipated Return To Forever reunion tour (June 1–August 10 in the United States and Europe).
And his RTF bandmates – Chick Corea,
Stanley Clarke, and Al Di Meola – barely noticed any difference in his playing. “I hadn’t played in four months,” he explains. “My first playing since the surgery was when I went out to L.A. and did the thing with Return To Forever. But it was like riding a bike, man. And it was great just to go and play that music again. Just to get an opportunity to reinvestigate something that you did before – that’s exciting.”
At the time of this interview, White still had a few more months of physical