Washington Finishes 5th Blues Album
Don M. "Papadon" Washington knows a thing or two about the blues. He's got a new album and international-stage bragging rights to prove it.
Mr. Washington, a music teacher at Colton-Pierrepont Central School, performed earlier this month at two jazz and blues festivals in Germany: the 8/8 Festival in Hamburg and the Kopenicker Jazz in Town Festival in Berlin.
He said he was invited to perform after one of the festivals' organizers, Axel Zwingenberger, attended a master piano class Mr. Washington taught last year in the Netherlands. He had met another organizer, Vince Weber, on a previous European tour.
"I didn't realize until having met them and learned about them that they're considered the top figures of boogie-woogie and blues in Europe," Mr. Washington said.
"It was a major compliment. Vince Weber is considered the top piano player in Europe. Members of the Bach family have come out to hear Axel play."
Mr. Washington said he thoroughly enjoyed playing to German audiences, who stuck around for his set through heavy rain in Berlin.
"It's all about the music for them," he said. "Typically, here in the States, you go to a concert and the band is on stage, but you're having conversations and milling around. In Europe, in those settings, it doesn't matter if they're listening to classical, blues or whatever. They're there to hear the music."
Mr. Washington has performed numerous times in Europe and the United States, including venues such as the Chicago Blues Festival, boogie-woogie festivals in the Netherlands, France, United Kingdom and Switzerland, and blues and jazz festivals in Italy and Belgium.
He just put the finishing touches on his fifth album, "Looking At You," which runs the gamut of blues, jazz and boogie-woogie.
"I really took my time on this one," Mr. Washington said.
"I spent two years writing, recording, re-recording and editing, so I really paid attention to the details in the writing and production of it. Some of the songs I think are a little more mature than where I started. I wanted to cover a wide range of styles within blues and jazz, so I really think there is something that will appeal to most everybody."
The title, he said, is for his wife, Dawn.
"I keep a picture of my wife on my desk," he said. "I looked up at that picture one day and I couldn't help but grin. When I finished the CD, I decided I wanted to make that feeling the title cut."
Mr. Washington's music is available through Apple's iTunes Store.
On the net
Don M. "Papadon" Washington's website: www.donwashington.com
