One of the top jazz drummers of the past 40 years, Kenny Washington is also a noted jazz historian and educator who has played all styles of jazz.

In 1976, at the age of 17, Kenny played his first major gig with alto saxophonist, Lee Konitz. The following year he appeared on the Chiaroscuro album, The Lee Konitz Nonet, which was also Kenny’s first recording session. This was just the beginning of his career.

A long list of major musical associations followed with the who’s who of jazz. As a versatile drummer who always uplifted each bandstand, Washington has been very busy ever since. These settings range from Benny Goodman to Nicholas Payton. At this point, a list of the major artists who Kenny has not worked with would be shorter than that listed in his discography.

Kenny was also given the honor of taking over the drum chairs in both Dameronia and Cedar Walton’s Trio after the deaths of “Philly” Joe Jones and Billy Higgins.   

Even with all of that activity, Kenny has been active in other related fields. Inspired by Billy Taylor and Rex Stewart, two of the few African-American musicians who were also writers, he has penned over a dozen liner notes including  Ahmad Jamal’s, The Complete Ahmad Jamal Trio Argo Sessions 1956 -62, several Art Blakey’s reissue recordings including Drum Suite, Gretsch Drum Night at Birdland,  Max Roach’s Drums Unlimited, Lou Rawls’ Live, and several of the Jazz Masters compilations on Verve.

Kenny Washington spent 10 years as a disc jockey at WBGO, public radio station in New Jersey. From there he was recruited by Sirius Satellite Radio to become the first jazz program director from 1999-2003. In 2000 he was awarded the Jazz Journalists Association’s Marian McPartland/Willis Conover Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.

Washington has made notable recordings and shared the bandstand with Phil Woods, Benny Carter, Ahmad Jamal, Johnny Griffin, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, Lena Horne, Milt Jackson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Walter Bishop Jr, Ray Bryant, Freddy Cole, Jimmy Smith, Melvin Rhyne, Jimmy McGriff,  Lionel Hampton, Sonny Stitt, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Ron Carter, Sam Jones, Red Garland, Teddy Edwards, Hank Crawford, Flip Phillips, David “Fathead” Newman, Milt Hinton, Kenny Burell, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Etta Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Ruby Braff, Wallace Roney, Wynton Marsalis, Lorez Alexandria, Andy Bey, Ernie Andrews, Carol Sloane, Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Mingus Dynasty, Super Blue, and George Wein’s Newport All-Stars.

He is also an influential jazz educator, teaching jazz history and drums at SUNY Purchase College, the Juilliard School, private studies at NYU and the New School. He is constantly sought after for master classes and as an artist in residence in addition to teaching private lessons.

One of his longest and most important associations has been with pianist Bill Charlap. For more than 20 years, The Bill Charlap Trio, which includes bassist Peter Washington, has been touring, recording and is recognized as one of the leading groups in jazz. With Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for 2004’s Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein (Blue Note), 2007’s The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note) and 2017’s Uptown, Downtown (Impulse).  In 2016, Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap: The Silver Lining, The Songs of Jerome Kern, was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Album which featured the trio.

As he continues to play creative music with top artists, Kenny Washington’s goal for the future is to do what Papa Jo Jones would always say. Simply, “Pass It On.”  Having learned directly from jazz masters of the past, Washington continues to pass on what he’s learned to future generations. His aim is to expose younger musicians to recordings of past greats, share advice on how to navigate the music business, as well as keeping the great heritage of jazz alive and well.