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FOR OVER TWENTY years, Peter White has made the acoustic guitar a dynamic and expressive voice in the overall soundscape of contemporary jazz. Since his first recordings in the early 1990s, he has infused pop standards and his own original material with a sense of innovation and energy that rivals the abilities of many of his electric guitar counterparts. In a career that spans two decades and a dozen solo recordings, he continues to surprise seasoned fans and newcomers alike with his willingness to push the preconceived parameters of his instrument to new places.

But White’s musicianship is only part of the story. While his more recent recordings have primarily consisted of cover material, a collection of original songs had been simmering and taking shape for several years. It all comes to the surface on Good Day, his new CD scheduled for release on September 8, 2009, on Peak Records, a division of the Concord Music Group. “I hadn’t made a CD of original songs for some time,” says White. “The last one was Confidential, which was released in 2004. So I just started going through my backlog of material – songs that I’d never finished, some going as far back as ten or fifteen years – and I discovered that I had a lot of gems that I really wanted to show to the world. I wanted to record them in my own time and in my own way, without any outside influence or interference.”

While it’s White’s vision that ultimately drives Good Day, he does get some assistance and inspiration from “DC,” the versatile keyboardist/programmer/songwriter who has produced and/or collaborated with a variety of contemporary jazz artists in recent years, including Paul Brown, Jeff Golub and Chuck Loeb. Also helping out was keyboardist / producer Philippe Saisse, an accomplished solo artist in his own right who has helped to re-shape the careers of Rick Braun, Marc Antoine and Gato Barbieri, among many others. “Both of them helped me enormously with this project,” says White. “They brought something to each one of these songs that I hadn’t even heard in my own head, bringing them to life in a way that I never could have, because I had been living with them for so long that I could only think of them in a certain way.”

The set opens with the lively title track, a piece co-written by White and arranger Michael Egizi that features an intriguing vibraphone solo from Saisse. “This song has a killer groove and a great melody,” says White. “Philippe played this wonderful solo on the vibes. It’s something I’ve never put on a record before, but I try to do something on every album that’s a little different – some sound, some instrument, some style. This time, it was the vibraphone.” The genesis of “Love Will Find You” is an intriguing story. The basic elements of the song were originally submitted to White by his younger brother, guitarist/songwriter Danny White, who had written it with Basia, his long-time collaborator. White earned partial songwriting credit by rearranging Basia’s vocal line and putting his own melody on top of it. “I basically took the song that she and Danny wrote, chopped it up, took her scat part – which she sings at the beginning and at the very end in the original version – and put it into the middle of the song as well,” he says. “I use it as a hook throughout the song. I just thought it was cool that we could collaborate like this and come up with two versions of the same song.”

Upbeat and uplifting, “Bright” (recently voted Best Song at the 2010 American Smooth Jazz Awards) is dedicated to the late bassist and NBA hoopster Wayman Tisdale, with whom White had performed onstage a number of times in recent years. “The guy was always so happy, so positive, always had a smile, always made you feel great,” says White. “Even before his death, I’d always called this song ‘Bright,’ because it sounded uplifting and happy and funny. Then I realized that it would be the perfect song to dedicate to Wayman, because that was the way he came across to the world.” Driven in some parts by a passionate flamenco rhythm and in others by a quieter and more melodic sensibility, “Ramon’s Revenge” has an epic, cinematic quality that tells a tale of two rival Spaniards vying for the affections of the same woman. “In the end, I imagine Ramon riding away on his horse with his girl, who has come back to him after leaving his rival in the dust.” Then again, White admits, this is the story he has built around the song. With no lyrics to tell the tale, he’s quick to add – with a wink and a grin – that listeners are welcome to make up their own version.

The easygoing closer, “Say Goodnight” – which White describes as “a typical Peter White ballad” – is a tip of the hat to pop balladeer Al Stewart, with whom White toured and recorded for nearly twenty years (and co-wrote Stewart’s 1978 hit “Time Passages”). “We would end the show with just him and me playing the guitar after the rest of the band had left the stage. He’d say to the crowd, ‘Say goodnight to Peter White,’ and I would leave the stage for him to finish the show. The phrase has always stuck with me in the years since.”

Even as the sun sets on Good Day, the recording overall represents a beginning for White – an opportunity for him to reconnect with the clever and engaging songcraft that characterized his earlier recordings. “These songs had been raw demos for a long time,” says White. “Hearing them come to life by introducing them to other musicians who were experiencing them for the first time was very exciting, and very surprising. I had lost track of the possibility that these songs could have so much potential beyond what I’d originally envisioned. If I had finished this project purely by myself, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good. It’s the different ingredients and spices and colors provided by other people that make it what it is.”

GOOD DAY is available now on Peak Records