Kenny Washington
Lecturer of Music
Kenny Washington is a jazz legend. The Brooklyn-born, Staten Island-bred drummer has played behind Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Ahmad Jamal, Ronnie Mathews, Lee Konitz, Betty Carter, Johnny Griffin, Clark Terry, George Cables, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Stitt, James Spaulding, Phil Woods, Bill Charlap, Bobby Watson, Curtis Lundy, and Tommy Flanagan, to name a few.
A prolific freelancer with an enormous discography, Washington also has a strong interest in jazz history and has written liner notes for and/or helped prepare classic jazz re-releases by Art Blakey and Count Basie, among others. He has also taught jazz drumming at the New School in New York City and worked as an announcer at the New Jersey jazz radio station WBGO.
Washington studied with Dizzy Gillespie drummer Rudy Collins and attended the LaGuardia High School for Music and Art.
Criss-Crossing With Kenny Washington (Jazz profile, 2008)