With such a dearth of male singers that sound fresh, lyrical and yet holding onto the tradition, Kenny Washington is like a vocal oasis. The tenor shines brightly on recent release, and he creates an art gallery of musical portraits as he mixes and matches with Josh Nelson/p, Gary Brown/b, Lorca Hart/dr, Jeff Massanari/g, Dan Feisli/b, Ami Molinelli-Hart/perc, Jeff Cressman/tb, Mike Olmos/tp, Peter Escovedo/bong and JALCO’s Victor Goines/ts-cl. The result is a warm and uplifting collection of standards that sound as fresh as a morning sunrise.
Washington teams with Nelson’s saloon stride and Olmos’s plunging horn to create a wonderfully moaning “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues” while he snaps to Goines’ clarinet on “No More Blues”. He does a series of cozy and flexible duets, slithering around the bas on “Sweet Georgia Brown,”, intimate and tender with Massanari on a flowing “Smile” and lazily confident on “I’ve Got The World On A Swing” and vulnerable with Nelson during “Bewitch, Bothered and Bewildered”. His ability to express a feeling in a simple syllable is astounding, oozing with Goines on “Stars Fell On Alabama” and celebrating on “Here’s To Life”. All throughout, Washington is assured and assuring, making music out of music.