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,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. 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 20th century's most important and influentia ...

. 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 sa ...

album with organist Larry Young. His first album as leader, for which he is best known, was '' Natural Essence'', 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, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

, 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 sp ...

, alto saxophone player and son of Jackie McLean

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

, and drummer

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

, 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 ...

. 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'' with

James Spaulding James Ralph Spaulding Jr. (was 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 ...

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer 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. Early life ...

Reggie Workman Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey, in addition to Alice Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Tri ...

Joe Chambers Joe Chambers (born June 25, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. In the 1960s and 1970s, Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea an ...

(Blue Note) *1968: Unreleased Session with

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

, Herbie Lewis,

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 (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, B ...

(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 Barclay 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 Hubert Barclay Eaves III was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, ...

(

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 syste ...

) *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 intereste ...

*''

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 the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

, 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'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, 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 musicians