Want to purchase one of TONI LYNN'S CDs? CONTACT bearszac@earthlink.net FOR MORE INFORMATION!!!!!!
Toni Lynn Washington
With a sound that is both unique and familiar, Toni's sultry alto reaches a soulful place that few singers are capable of going. Forty plus years of live performing have honed her considerable skills, leaving her as one of the few remaining truly great traditional R&B singers of her generation.
With performances at venues like the Saratoga Jazz Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, Memphis in May and the Newport Jazz Festival at Sea (aboard the QE2) etc., as well as tours of Europe, the U.S. and Canada, over 2500 performances since 1992. Seven BMA (formerly the WC Handy National Blues Awards) nominations (including 2003, 2004 and 2005 "Soul-Blues Female Performer of the Year" nominations), and many other award nominations for her previous albums including "Album of the Year" at the W.C. Handy Awards, "Album of the Year" at the NAIRD Awards, and "Outstanding Blues Album" at the Boston Music Awards, Best of Boston (trademark) from Boston Magazine, a 2006 BMA nomination, participation in charitable projects like the Respond II CD (with Joan Baez.), and critical acclaim from the media, including Essence Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times, Living Blues, Knight Ridder Newspapers, Blues Revue, The Ottawa Citizen, Big City Blues, The Boston Herald , Jazziz, Downbeat, The House of Blues Radio Hour, NPR's 'All Things Considered' , Mountain Stage, The Boston Phoenix, Bluestage, WBOS, WGBH, WFNX, etc., And the 1999 Boston Blues Festival Lifetime Achievement Award., are the things which have defined her career.
Toni has released her fifth album, the live recording entitled "Favorite Flower" (listen closely to this stellar live performance from Washington State's Winthrop Blues Festival, and you'll understand the title….). In 2003 Toni released her fourth CD; (Produced by Duke Robillard and Bruce Bears) entitled "Been so Long" which has been universally received as one of the best Blues CDs of the decade. Other recent highlights include "watching Ruth Brown and Carla Thomas enjoy my show so much at the 2004 Handy Awards VIP Party" Toni said, and giving the "Best New Artist" Award to newcomer Robert Randolph and The Family Band while trading jokes with Little Milton at the Orpheum (Memphis) later that night . It's been great, but we think the fun is just starting so that finally, after years of hard work and critical acclaim, Toni's coming into her own. We hope you'll become a part of her success by helping us spread the word.
Here's some press:
Essence Magazine
CD Picks October 2003
"Been so Long" Toni Lynn Washington
Kinda sounds Like: Your grandmother (if she were Shug Avery from 'The Color Purple').
Why you should buy her CD: Hearing the Blues should never be this much fun, but damn if there isn't something about Washington's mournful voice that doesn't get you swaying, laughing and crying right along with her.
Best listened to: While playing spades.
Trying to analytically explain why this CD is so wonderful is like trying to explain why God is God or why water is wet.
You are doing yourself a disservice if you don't go and get this album. Now!
P. Kellach Waddle/ BluesWax
Toni Lynn Washington's set swung. Her combination of blues and traditional R&B grooves proved a huge hit. Where has she been! She was a huge discovery for most.
SF Blues Festival Site
Real Blues magazine wishes to acknowledge Northern Blues winners in the following categories:
2003 Best Blues Release (Canadian Label/U.S. Artist)
3 Way Tie: Toni Lynn Washington: Been So Long (Northern Blues)
Ronnie Earl (Stony Plain)
Snooky Pryor (Electro Fi)
2003 Best Blues Artist (Female Artist)
Toni Lynn Washington: Been So Long (Northern Blues)
New CDs in stores Tuesday June 17, 03
JONATHAN TAKIFF
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Boston's blues queen Toni Lynn Washington should extend her domain with "Been So Long" (NorthernBlues Music), a rockin' blues 'n gospel homage to inspirations Ruth Brown, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington and Ma Rainey. Superbly produced by Duke Robillard
Globe CD Picks Aug 1 '03 Toni Lynn Washington BEEN SO LONG Northern Blues Music
Toni Lynn Washington does herself proud with another sterling effort, this time co produced by Duke Robillard. He and Bruce Bears (Washington's pianist and music director) bring out enough soulful style to render comparisons to one of Washington's idols, Ruth Brown. Washington shows great range, moving from the piquant jazz of the Little Jimmy Scott-identified ''Angel Eyes'' to the steamy boogie-woogie of ''It's Been a Long Time (Been So Long),'' with Bears kicking it to life on the ivories. The dizzying range feels seamless, though, whether it's a sweet cover of ''Willow Weep for Me'' (learned from a Nina Simone record) or the more modern swamp-rock of the Cate Brothers' ''Are You Happy Now?'' or the funky rock of ''Shake Me,'' penned for her by Jon Pousette-Dart, former leader of Boston's Pousette-Dart Band. The overall star, though, is Washington, whose style and grace are queenly, indeed.
Steve Morse, Boston Globe, August 1, 2003
NorthernBlues Records (http://www.northernblues.com)
"She will make you melt" Boston Magazine
Washington Post Feb., '05
Toni Lynn Washington, in Full Swing
The swing dance revival may have come and gone, but no one told the Toni Lynn Washington Band and the quick-footed, arm-turning couples exuberantly spinning to their jazz and R&B sounds at Glen Echo Park's Spanish Ballroom on Saturday night. North Carolina-born, Boston-based vocalist Toni Lynn Washington and her combo delivered three sets full of known and not-so-well-known 1940s and '50s covers. Opening with a leisurely stroll through Ray Charles's "Unchain My Heart," Washington, aided by a gorgeous trumpet solo, turned this bluesy-soul statement into a classy swing composition.
A veteran vocalist with 40 years experience, Washington got earthier on occasion, but largely used her church-trained skills in service of a more polished approach. She and her group kept the floor busy with standards such as "Take the A Train" and "Route 66," as well as jaunts through the R&B songbook of the Buddy and Ella Johnson orchestra. Though the focus was always on keeping a steady beat, the band occasionally managed to show off their chops.
Re-creating the musical past may not get this unit into the pop spotlight, but its approach can certainly sustain a night out on the dance floor.
Steve Kiviat
People are dancing like Elmore James, Little Milton and Etta James got their DNA mixed up in a test tube!!!
Northeast Performer
Best of Boston (tm) Winner "Best Blues Vocalist" Boston Magazine
Washington's refined style can be summed up in one word: classic.
Blues Review Oct., - Nov., 2003
Toni Lynn Washington has either appeared in performance, on bills, on recording or on compilations with the following artists and musicians:
Carla Thomas, Ann Peebles, Dave Brubeck, Angela Strehli, Deanna Bogart, Johnny Nocturne Band, Fred McFarlane, Fred Wesley, Smokey Wilson, Michael Hill's Blues Mob, Maceo Parker, Gordon Beadle, Donald Kinsey, Chuck Leavell, Colin Linden, Rita Chiarelli, Tinsley Ellis, Paul James, Kinsey Report, Kenny Neal, Duke Robillard, Jesse Williams, Doug James, Scott Aruda, Mudcat Ward, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Ronnie Earl, Matt "Guitar" Murphy", Lucky Peterson, Dave Jamrog, Darrell Nulisch, Eva Cassidy, Rita Coolidge, Tyrone Davis, Roomful of Blues, Little Milton, Curtis Salgado, Chuck Chaplin, Bruce Katz, Otis Grand, Amadee Castenell, Jr., Steve Gomes, Neil Gouvin, Eddie Bo, Luther Allison, Joe Louis Walker, Coco Montoya, Francine Reed, Junior Watson, Grady Gaines & The Texas Upsetters, Lynn August, Irma Thomas, Paul Ahlstrand, Ed Spargo, Marcia Ball, Steve Brown, Mark Texeira, John Pousette-Dart, Craig Macintyre, Rob Lee, Lou Wallach, Lou Ulrich, Pigmeat Markum, Mighty Sam McClain, Warren Grant, Rory Block, Miki Honeycutt, Pierre Marchand, Marcus Miller, Magic Slim and The Teardrops, Shawn Pelton, Doug Plavin, Chuck Langford, Tim Gearan, Buck and Bird Taylor, Michael Ramos, Amy Ray, Tim Ray, Michael Eisenstein, Michael Lockwood, David Narcizo, Jimmy Vivino, Bruce Bears, Dan Greenspan, Tom Hambridge, Kay Hanley, Kenya Hathaway, Tracy Bonham, Jeff Lockhart, Susan Tedeschi, Jim Lamond, Erin McKeown, Jess Klein, Sarah McLachlan, Mili Bermejo, Ani DiFranco, Aimee Mann, Julie Miller, Kristin Hersh, Jonatha Brooke, Billy Conway, Mike Denneen, Jerry Deupree, Richard Gates, Patty Griffin, Marabeth Jordan, Buddy Judge, Aisha Kahlil, Joan Baez, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Richard Rosenblatt
I would like to thank everyone involved in my Birthday Party celebration at Heather's this past summer! As result of the party I was able to take a trip to California to visit all of my old friends from LA including members of "The Sound Seventies" (the group I toured Vietnam with and recorded with in the seventies who's manager was Clarence MacDonald of "The Fifth Dimension" fame). Clarence's Birthdyay party was The Bomb! Seeing all of my old friends was something I'll never forget!
Thanks to you all!
Toni
