Career
She is an artist/clinician for Michael Rath Trombones. Her personal instrument is a nickel silver Rath R2. Annie learned trombone at school.
At 14 she was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra and began her professional career at sixteen.
Among her initial influences were Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Wayne Henderson. She is also eclectic and willing to try other genres besides jazz.
In the 1970s she moved to London where she found herself in demand. In the following years she worked with Chris McGregor"s Brotherhood of Breath, National Health, Carla Bley, Robert Wyatt, Joan Armatrading, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Chris Rea, Bill Wyman, Elvis Costello, Jah Wobble..And the Native Hipsters and others
In 1984 she formed her own band and released her first Civil Defense as its leader.
She had been part of the Jazz Jamaican Allstars alongside saxophone player Denys Baptiste and her own band blends reggae rhythms with jazz. In 2003 she played trombone on Robert Wyatt"s award-winning album Cuckooland. Lately, she has participated in the Frank Zappa tribute band Zappatistas with jazz guitarist John Etheridge and others
In 2004 British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 4 called her "one of the country"s great trombonists." In 2006, she joined Belgian band The Wrong Object for a series of gigs later documented on the Voiceprint Civil Defense, "Platform One".
In 2007, she played trombone on most of the tracks contained in Robert Wyatt"s album Comicopera. Whitehead also has worked extensively with her partner, the musician, singer and producer Jennifer Maidman, and teaches jazz at London"s Centre for Young Musicians.