In 1962, bassist Reggie Washington was born into a music family. Father Charles & mother Bernice were avid music lovers who played jazz, R&B, gospel & classical music in the house every day & night. Sister Yvette (violin, viola, music educator) was the better of the (3) kids (best kept secret).
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Regg’s first musical experiences started with brother, drummer, jazz historian & radio personality «Jazz Maniac» Kenny Washington. Regg played congas & bongos performing in competitions & clubs in NYC as « The Washington Brothers ».
He moved on ; studying cello privately through school playing in several orchestras (Youth Symphony, All-City, All-State, All-Eastern USA Youth Orchestras) & performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors Zubin Mehta, James Levine & Claudio Abbado. During his time in the High School of Music & Art, he switched to Acoustic Bass at the insistence of conductor Anthony Diaz. It was the BEST decision made for him ! (bless you Tony)
Regg studied bass classically with William Blossom (NY Philharmonic), jazz with Paul West (Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams) & afro-cuban with Victor Venegas (Fania All-Stars). The electric bass came along after spending many musical nights with his brother & Marcus Miller (Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter) at home. With the help of his best friend Dave Inniss ; the bass became the « only place he wanted to be » !
Among the numerous fine musicians & musical situations Regg has been involved in ; drummers have been great & plentiful ! A « short list » of drummers Regg has performed, recorded &/or toured with include :
Jimmy Cobb, Keith Copeland (teachers), Kenny Washington, Lenny White, Buddy Williams, Marvin « Smitty » Smith, Omar Hakim, Bernard Purdie, Jeff « Tain » Watts, Greg Bandy, Jimmy Lovelace, Horacio « El Negro » Hernandez, Bernard Davis, Gene Lake, Billy Kilson, Ronnie Burrage, Steve Jordan, Greg Hutchinson, Dafnis Prieto, Keith Carlock, Anton Fig, Rodney Holmes, Mike Clark, Terri-Lyne Carrington, JuJu House, Willie Jones III & Tony Lewis just to name a few.
His performing & recording credits include such artists as Branford Marsalis, Salif Keita, Cassandra Wilson, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Coleman, Don Byron, Mike Mainieri, Cheick- Tidiane Seck, Meshell N’degeocello, Kenny Kirkland, World Saxophone Quartet, D’Angelo, Chico Hamilton, Arturo O’Farrill, Lester Bowie, Will Smith & Arthur Blythe. Regg has the correct « bass flavors » or « bassisms » for ALL musical genres.
Currently touring with Grammy winner trumpeter Roy Hargrove & his own trio (Washington-Vann-Galland), his feeling & sensitivity for yesterday’s & today’s music has grown into a force. A sinewy, deep & crisp bass groove that holds the bottom & compliments the music.
He also spends several months a year in Belgium, where he formed two trios, one with Erwin Vann (ten sax) and Stéphane Galland (drs), and « Washington Trio Tree » with Jozef Dumoulin (kb) and Dré Pallemaerts (drs).
« This guy has gold in his hands! » (JVC Festival Paris 2005).
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