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Our Thing brings together the unique talents of Salim Washington and Aaron Johnson. These musicians share a respect for the music and its reflected in the groove nature of the band. Both men are gifted and idiosyncratic composers and together create the bands unique repertoire and sound.
These two men worked together in some of New York's most exciting bands including Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe and Jabbo Ware's We, Me, and Them Orchestra. They first recorded together with Steven Haynes and Taylor Ho Bynum's Paradigm Shift. The two of them recognized a kindred spirit and complementary natures and decided to join their talents. The result is OUR THING.
Salim Washington is a master tenor saxophonist, multi-reedsman, composer, and jazz educator. Salim Washington is one of the fastest rising stars on the New York Jazz scene today. Salim joined the Worlds Experience Orchestra under the leadership of Jamyl Jones and the Source of Life Arkestral Revelation (SOLAR) in Boston. He also joined the Sun Messengers, a band which was inspired by Sun Ra's Arkestra. He also taught music in Detroit's public schools and began teaching music in prisons through the Prisoners' Access to Creative Experiences (PACE). He joined the Billy Skinner Double Jazz Quartet (DJQ), with whom he made his first recording and overseas tour. He began to earn commissions as a composer and arranger, and also recorded his debut CD "Love In Exile" with RBA while attending graduate school at Harvard, where he wrote a dissertation entitled "Beautiful Nightmare: Coltrane, Jazz, and American Culture," under the supervision of Henry Louis Gates. It is now being prepared for publication as a major historical work.
With doctorate in hand, he headed to New York to play in the city, as well as begin a professorship at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. While on a commission for works celebrating the life and music Dexter Gordon he established a new group, the Harlem Arts Ensemble, which continues the legacy of the Roxbury Blues Aesthetic.
In addition to his own group, Salim plays regularly with a number of ensembles including the Donald Smith Quintet, Antonio Dangerfield's Ensemble Uniqua, Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe, and the Frank Lacy Octet, James Jabbo Ware's Me, We, and Them Orchestra, the Brooklyn Repertory Ensemble, Ahmed Abdullah's Diaspora, and the Carl Grubbs group. He has traveled extensively, playing music festivals throughout the US and Canada, Latin America, and Europe. He has also led music workshops for the Northern Ireland Arts Council in Belfast, the Bill Evans conservatory in Paris, Harvard University, the Vermont Jazz Center, Plymouth State College, and others. He is a member of the Jazz Study Group at Columbia University and has participated on various committees and panels in service of jazz, including those convened by the Ford Foundation, the Boston Pheonix, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Aaron J Johnson is trombonist, bass trombonist, tuba player, conch shell player and sometime bass clarinetist. Aaron is from Washington, DC where he got early experience in the big band of Duke Ellington saxophonist Rick Henderson and former Ray Charles trombonist Calvin Jones. While studying engineering at Carnegie Mellon University he played with the University of Pittsburgh Big Band under Nathan Davis where he played and studied with with musicians such as Geri Allen, Kenny Clark and J. C. Moses. After graduate study at Georgia Tech, Aaron settled into the New York area and work initially with Makanda Ken McIntyre and Nancie Banks. From there he has worked or recorded with Steve Turre, Jimmy Heath, Reggie Workman, Norman Simmons, The Mingus Big Band, The Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Lacy's Vibe Tribe, Charles Tolliver, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, The Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra, Lance Bryant, Salim Washington, the Labamba Big Band, The Lionel Hampton Orchestra and many others Through extensive touring Aaron has brought exciting music all across the United States, Europe and South America. Aaron has taught low brass at Rutgers- Newark and was recognized with a 2000 Fellowship in Music Composition by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
To book Our Thing, contact:
Salim Washington 212.222.6613 wsalimwashington@aol.com
Aaron J. Johnson 973.229.0138 aaron@aaronjjohnson.com