Ben White  (Benji)  Had the good fortune of growing up in a household where performing music was considered the "norm". Playing cornet in front of audiences by age 6, he thought that performing is what everyone did. A typical  Sunday in his youth consisted of singing in the Church Choir with his Mom in the morning, running home to eat and enjoying the festivities as the afternoon unfolded with a live jam session in the music room - experiencing everything from traditional jazz to down east fiddle music, pop, country and blues, as players would drop by this popular destination.

Ben played his first "paying" gig for a New Years Eve with his father's jazz band (on bass) at the ripe old age of 12 and made the awesome sum of $40 - it was then he knew he was hooked.  20+ years touring North America from coast to coast backing rock, country and jazz artists and all the while playing as one of the unsung heroes in the studio recording tracks or producing literally dozens of album projects over the years.

 

Ben is one of the founding members of the original Jazz Rascals, which all started as a casual jam session in his Dad's kitchen with Eddy and Dave on a cold, Canadian February and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Ben has once again returned to his jazz roots with the "new" Jazz Rascals- "this is the music that speaks to me. This is what I really want to play and with Doug and Davey on board, life couldn't be better! Let's get out there and "rascalize  em !"

  

Doug Burnley  Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a young lad refused to believe the school band director when he growled "You can't play trumpet because you have too big a space between your front teeth".

Undaunted, he took up trumpet anyway and was soon prowling the record shops listening to the fascinating dixieland sounds of what would become his idols and mentors. Not able to afford to buy the records, he would spend his Saturday afternoons in the listening booth, until he was finally asked to leave by the store staff.

Since then, the "lad" has played for over 40 years in jazz groups throughout Canada and the States, after residing in South Florida for 9 years, he recently returned to Canada and decided to make London, Ont his home.

Within a month or so of returning home, he happened to meet and "sit-in" on a gig with Benji & Dave, "magic" happened, the three of them "jelled" instantly and he knew that the "New" Jazz Rascals was in the making.

Doug considers himself extremely fortunate to have partnered with Benji & Dave, they think alike, have a passion for the music, and are all extremely dedicated to providing their audiences with the most exciting show possible. Doug believes it was fate that brought them together and after listening to them, you might tend to agree.

When he is not playing, Doug does web design work, designing sites for small business, bands and artist's portfolios - he designed this website and more of his designs can be found by clicking the links below.

The "lad" has finally found his niche.

You can visit Doug's personal website here:  or  his Web Design businesses  here  and  here.

David Neale  Began his professional music career in the mid eighties. From the mid eighties until the early 90's he fronted three jazz bands on trombone.  He started playing jazz wind bass with the "Sultan's Six Dixieland Jazz Band". He was the bass player with this group until it’s eventual demise. He was mentored by Eddy White the cornet player / promoter of the Sultan’s Six. David spent many hours with Eddy learning about Jazz, and enjoying the truly great talent that was “Eddy White”. David was doubly fortunate though, because another great musician, and coincidentally Eddy’s son – “Ben White”, attended a great majority of his learning sessions with Eddy. Ben played a huge part in influencing the learning curve and the eventual bass styling that David produced. During countless hours of learning sessions David and his two teachers became very close. The friendship forged lasted with Eddie until his passing in September 2001 and continues with Ben today.

These years of experience with the White family were what molded David as a musician and performer, and gave David the ability to double on acoustic bass as well as trombone. In fact, through Ben he was able to participate on trombone in a brass section, to record with the country artist “Terry Sumsion”.
 
A couple of years after the passing of "Eddy White" Ben called David to have him fill a void in the horn section with the "Otterville Rock and Soul Review". This was the push that was needed to get David back to playing. He had taken a "break" so to speak, after Eddy's death.

Enter – Doug Burnley, a new (to David and Ben) trad cornet player possessing a style, ability and enthusiasm, not seen by David and Ben since the passing of Eddy White! This chance meeting of these three musicians was the event that brought the “Jazz Rascals” back to life.

You can visit David's personal website here: