Leland Whitty


Leland Whitty is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is part of the instrumental group BADBADNOTGOOD, of which he was a frequent collaborator and touring member before officially joining in 2016. A multi-instrumentalist, Whitty is best known as a tenor saxophonist.

Life and career

Whitty was born in Toronto, Ontario and grew up in the city's East End within a musical family. Interested in many genres of music growing up, he was a rapper during high school. In the late 2000s, he began studying at Humber College in Toronto, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Music. Around this time, he began performing in the Toronto jazz and soul scene, playing in a variety of local ensembles.
While studying at Humber, he met the members of BADBADNOTGOOD and started closely collaborating with them. Whitty appeared on every record of the band's outside of its first, and would often play at shows that were accessible from Toronto beginning in 2012.
Whitty began touring with the group full time in 2015, in part to help play the songs featuring guitar from the 2015 album Sour Soul. He joined the group officially at the beginning of 2016 during the recording of the album IV. Speaking about Whitty, BBNG bassist Chester Hansen noted, "It’s kind of funny, he’s almost been a member of the band forever. We’ve been playing together on and off forever, but as of , we were able to bring him to almost every show. He’s been unofficial since day one, and it felt like it was time to make it official."
As a songwriter and producer, Whitty has helped produced songs for artists like Kendrick Lamar, Daniel Caesar, and Kali Uchis, as well as those for smaller Toronto-based acts like Charlotte Day Wilson and Jonah Yano.
In 2019, Whitty scored the Canadian indie thriller Disappearance at Clifton Hill with BBNG drummer Alex Sowinski. Later that year, he recorded a jazz album with former BBNG keyboardist Matthew Tavares; this was released in 2020 as Visions.

Artistry

Whitty is a multi-instrumentalist. On records, he can be heard playing the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, violin, viola, vibraphone, piano/synthesizer, guitar, bass guitar, and slide guitar. On tour with BBNG, he plays the tenor and soprano saxophone, flute, guitar, and percussion.
Whitty plays a P. Mauriat tenor saxophone and uses a Syos mouthpiece.

Discography

With BADBADNOTGOOD
With Alex Sowinski
With Matthew Tavares
Other credits