[1] His musical style explores a fusion of jazz, classical, African, Caribbean, Asian and Western influences,[3] and he has also developed a technique he calls "vocal gymnastics", in which he uses the voice to reproduce percussive sounds.
[4][5] Music critic Kevin Le Gendre notes that Waithe "has single-mindedly pursued his own artistic agenda, developing a songbook that draws heavily on African-Caribbean and Asian folk traditions as well as jazz ingenuity in a manner not dissimilar to a large number of his forebears, of which Yusef Lateef is perhaps the most direct reference.
[4] In the 1990s he set up Essequibo Music, of which he is Director, an organisation that oversees a range of contemporary Black British artists, storytellers, poets and musicians – among them Sandra Agard (storyteller/writer), Jo-Jo Yates (kora player/master drummer/percussionist), Darryl Lee Que (Caribbean drummer and percussionist) and Helen McDonald (vocalist) – who work in educational, cultural and performances arenas, running workshops and undertaking collaborations with teachers and community project workers.
He has performed around the world, including in India, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, Sudan, Ghana, France, Geneva, Peru, Guyana, Columbia and the Cayman Islands and US,[4] and has worked with such notable artists as Nitin Sawhney, Courtney Pine and percussionist Bosco de Oliveira.
[20] In November 2008, Waithe went to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kampala, Uganda, where he took part in a programme of cultural events that involved bringing together classically trained British musicians with traditional Ugandan music players, as well as working with the African Children's Choir.