Tyrone Washington (born 1944) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Biography

Early life

Washington was born to Robert Benjamin Washington and Eunice Washington, a head teacher and supervisor at a neighborhood center in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He was one of three children. From his early years, Washington was a close friend of trumpet player

Woody Shaw Woody Herman Shaw Jr. (December 24, 1944 – May 10, 1989) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, arranger, band leader, and educator. Shaw is widely known as one of the most important and influential jazz trumpet ...

. He briefly attended Howard University School of Music before joining Horace Silver's

hard bop Hard bop is a subgenre of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz that incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospe ...

sextet.

Career

Prior to recording albums as leader, Washington recorded on Silver's album '' The Jody Grind'' and recorded a

soul jazz Soul jazz or funky jazz is a subgenre of jazz that incorporates strong influences from hard bop, blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues. Soul jazz is often characterized by organ trios featuring the Hammond organ and small combos including ten ...

album with organist Larry Young. His first album as leader, for which he is best known, was ''

Natural Essence ''Natural Essence'' is the debut album by American saxophonist Tyrone Washington featuring performances recorded in 1967 and released on the Blue Note label.

'', recorded for Blue Note in 1967.Dryden, Ken
''Natural Essence''
Allmusic review, accessed March 30, 2013. ''Natural Essence'' was followed by two more albums, ''Roots'' and ''Do Right''. ''Roots'' featured a range of influences including soul jazz and

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

, and included Hubert Eaves on piano. His final album as leader, ''Do Right'', included Eaves along with guitarist

Billy Nichols William Lee Nichols (born 1940) is an American guitarist and soul songwriter from Carrollton, Mississippi. Early years Nichols was one of nine children born to Laura Bell and Tom Sanders. Sanders was a farmer who played blues guitar in his spa ...

, alto saxophone player and son of Jackie McLean

René McLean René McLean (born December 16, 1946) is a hard bop saxophonist and flutist. He was born in New York City. He started playing guitar before receiving an alto saxophone and instruction from his father, the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean.Allmusic ...

, and drummer

Idris Muhammad Idris Muhammad ( ar, إدريس محمد; born Leo Morris; November 13, 1939 – July 29, 2014) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He had an extensive career performing jazz, funk, R&B, and soul music and recorded with musicians such a ...

, with funk influences. The album, first issued on the label Blue Labor, was later remastered and released on CD for the label

P-Vine P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

. Jason Ankeny, writing for AllMusic, ''Do Right'' as "fascinating listening, exploring both the extreme and the mainstream." Hrayr Attarian, writing for

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, described the musicians as "extremely talented" and "masters of their respective instruments," but considered the funky style of the album "dated." Washington did not record after 1974, leaving his music career for religious reasons. According to an obituary for his mother, he was still alive in 2022. He had changed his name to Mohammad Bilal Abdullah and had become a Sunni Muslim minister.

Discography

As leader

*1967: ''

Natural Essence ''Natural Essence'' is the debut album by American saxophonist Tyrone Washington featuring performances recorded in 1967 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' with

James Spaulding James Ralph Spaulding Jr. (born July 30, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, United states, Spaulding attended the Chicago Cosmopolitan School of Music. Between 1957 and 1961, he was a member of Sun ...

Kenny Barron Kenny Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist, who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Biography Born in Philadel ...

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey. Career Early in his career, Workman worke ...

Joe Chambers Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...

(Blue Note) *1968: Unreleased Session with

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...

Herbie Lewis Herbie Lewis (February 17, 1941 – May 18, 2007) was an American jazz double bassist. He played or recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Stanley Turrentine, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Harold Land, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, Tete Mo ...

Jack DeJohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie, ...

(Blue Note) *1973: ''Roots'' with

Stafford James Stafford James (born April 24, 1946) is an American double-bassist and composer.Allmusic/ref> Biography Stafford James was born in Evanston, Illinois. From ages 6 to 11 he was a left handed violinist in the school orchestra. He also possessed d ...

, Clifford Barbaro Barconadhi,

Hubert Eaves III Hubert Eaves III is a keyboardist, songwriter and record producer. In the early 1980s, he worked on hits by the dance act D-Train. He also did session work with Mtume. Biography Eaves was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he was taught piano ...

(

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

) *1974: ''Do Right'' with Hubert Eaves III,

) (Blue Labor)

As sideman

With

Stanley Cowell Stanley Cowell (May 5, 1941 – December 17, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of the Strata-East Records label. Early life Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio. He began playing the piano around the age of four, and became interest ...

*''

Brilliant Circles ''Brilliant Circles'' is the second album led by American jazz pianist Stanley Cowell, recorded in 1969. It was first released on the Freedom label and rereleased on CD with bonus tracks on the Black Lion label. Reception In his review for All ...

'' (

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

, 1969) With

Roswell Rudd Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. (November 17, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American jazz trombonist and composer. Although skilled in a variety of genres of jazz (including Dixieland, which he performed while in college), and other genres of musi ...

*''

Blown Bone ''Blown Bone'' is an album by trombonist Roswell Rudd. It was recorded in March 1976 at Blue Rock Studios in New York City, and was released on LP by Philips Japan in 1979. On the album, Rudd is joined by clarinetist Kenny Davern, saxophonists Ste ...

'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, 1976) With

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

*'' The Jody Grind'' (Blue Note, 1966) With Heiner Stadler *''Brains on Fire'' (Labor, 1973) With Larry Young *'' Contrasts'' (Blue Note, 1967)

References

External links

Tyrone Washington discography as a leader
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Tyrone 1944 births African-American saxophonists American jazz tenor saxophonists American male saxophonists Hard bop saxophonists Blue Note Records artists Living people 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American people