A (modest but) comprehensive discography

A (MODEST BUT) COMPREHENSIVE DISCOGRAPHY

Washington is not a session guy, but the occasional (and welcome) phonecall from a fellow musician asking if he'd care to collaborate on a particular project has added over the years to the list of ...A (modest but) comprehensive discography** Washington is not a session guy, but the occasional (and welcome) phonecall from a fellow musician asking if he'd care to collaborate on a particular project has added over the years to the list of his personal albums. Says Washington : "this record collection coud be entitled the top-ten albums I never listen to or an almost complete list of my fondest memories, depending on the mood of the day". Below is a quick look at the said records, with Washington's own comments. * Mud & Grace 2009 Obviously, you know what this one's about. Let me just add that the feeling of having reached number three on the album counter is a great one, because it requires such a fragile balance between doubts and faith that giving up may get dangerously close. If you care to read more about what led to the particular form of this album, you may proceed to the press section and download the Mud & Graces's presskit. Help The Blind (The Five Blind Boys from the Parish) 2008 I once met drummer Raphaël Pedroli, whom I had never played with, and he bluntly told me "I'd like to put up a blues band with you". However flattered, I replied "No way. I had my share of bands alright". He added "Come on, I'll be the dad. I'll take care of things, you just have to play and sing". It looked better, but it still didn't cut it for me. Finally, he added "And I want Simon Gerber to play the upright bass". I instantly replied "Fine. I'm in". The experience proved to be so much fun, we ended up recording this album and touring quite respectably. Yes, we pretend we're blind, go with a lot of comedy and crazy funny stuff, act absolutely stupid but it ultimately relies on the principle of the Trojan Horse : it's a absolutely puristic project of "black electric dirty blues", only it's glazed with a generous layer of humor so its almost scholar approach doesn't show . More info here.Distribution : Irascible (Switzerland) JB's Band Vol I & II (Jean-Blaise Rochat) 2008 Jean-Blaise Rochat is, if I remember well, a physician. He's also a dedicated bluegrass lover and musician, and this double-album of his is the result of his many years of touring and making connections in the bluegrass circuit. I had never heard of him, but he once gave me a call and asked me if I could manage to come play a session for his album. I gladly took the job. It felt great to be in the exact position of the guys I head hired for Homegrown. I love being a hired gun, I consider it to be very rewarding. Particularly when the boss is as nice to work with as JB was. Homegrown 2006 This one was a tremendous adventure. It took eighteen month of preproduction, then Fabian Schild and I went to record it in New York (mostly Brooklyn, actually). I wanted to see how it felt to hire people I didn't know (and, for the most part, lost all contact with) to make an album, like you would hire skilled craftsmen to build a ship before you let it sail while everybody goes on to build another one somewhere else. Incidentally, I see now it was very much the base for Mud & Grace in the way things were set up, as it involved a lot net-based file exchange to prepare the session. Great memories. Distribution : Irascible (Switzerland) / Mosaic (France) Dans ton lit (Simon Gerber) 2006 Simon and I released our first personal album the same year, 2003. We both got a good deal of attention from the media, and that's a bit how we met : we'd be neighbors in magazines and it did seem that everytime I scored an article, this guy had one as well. Then we started to be billed in the same festivals, until we finally met for real. I can't stress enough how much I admire Simon's work. We share the exact same love for black music, we've been eating the same soul food while growing up. So when he told me he wanted me to play acoustic guitars on his next album, I was tremendously honored. I turned out to be one of my dearest studio experiences, and on a side note, I must say it allowed to eventually consider myself as a musician - since I could finally be of some help to the music of somebody else. Distribution : Disques Office (Switzerland) Hotel Bravo 2003 My Washington's debut album. I wanted it to be purely acoustic, because I needed to make a radical turn from my years of extensive electric power-trio touring with the Crawlin' Kingsnake Blues Band. For sheer love of experiencing dangerous stuff, I decided to record it on location under a traffic bridge in the middle of my hometown. We hired a mobile studio truck, parked it there, set up the place for a little intimacy (which involved dealing with the authorities for the traffic to be partially detoured) and went on from there. To be quite frank, the idea was also to create some curiosity for the album, being aware that stating "I recorded my acoustic blues debut album" would hardly get any attention, while adding "...and I did it under a traffic bridge" certainly did. Distribution : Irascible (Switzerland) / Mosaic (France) King of the Dues (Rock Bottom) 2000 For five years, The Crawlin' Kingsnake served as the backing band in Europe for late Tampa Bay's Harmonicist Rock Bottom. Happy with us, Rock returned the favor by convincing his US agent to hire the band for two Florida tours in 98 and 99. While there, Rock managed to drag us (in the middle of an unbelievably busy schedule) to a studio to record a few cuts that ended up on this CD, which unfortunately proved to be his last. It also features one track we recorded during one of his tours in Switzerland in 97. Rock was like that : whenever he found the situation worthy, he'd book time in whatever studio would be available and record things. A true bluesman, if I ever met one. And a great person. Stomp My Feet 1997 The first real album I ever did. The Crawlin' Kingsnake Blues Band (featuring Stéphane Moor on bass and Marc O. Jeanrenaud on drums) at that time, was touring extensively for a few years. We always thought "Once we'll have been asked a thousand times if we have an album for sale, we'll record one", so we'd have something solid that would have a reason to be beyond egotistic satisfaction. To spice things up, we had horns and strings arrangements written, including some for a 20-piece marching band. It took a long time to finance, but it was a wonderful 5-week studio experience that allowed me to learn a tremendous lot about making a record. *Website created by Artinbox Multimedia.© 2010 - Napoleon Washington - Napoleon Washington
A (modest but) comprehensive discography
Washington is not a session guy, but the occasional (and welcome) phonecall from a fellow musician asking if he'd care to collaborate on a particular project has added over the years to the list of ...
NAPOLEON WASHINGTON (Official Website)
About the Five Blind Boys from the Parish | Blues de Traverse, Cléon (Rouen) | Blues Café | Blues de Traverse | Blues et technique: des noces d'or ! | Blues surpassé | Bottes Ouest, âme Sud | Cahors Blues festival | Cahors Blues Festival | Napoleon Washington, coup de coeur | De guitariste de blues à bluesman | Discographie (modeste mais) complète | Du blues en toute liberté | Euro Blues | Frissons de blues avant la fin | Napoleon Washington : Hotel Bravo | Homegrown | Homegrown | Napoleon Washington, Homegrown | Just a Bluesman | La dernière conquête de Napoleon Washington | Larry's Short Takes | La voix d'un médium | Le disque de la semaine | Le Grand Théâtre de Napoleon Washington | L'empire de Napoleon Washington | Le souffle hanté | Les voies du Blues | Mad Man | Mille jours avec ma guitare | Musique organique | Napoleon Washington | Napoleon Washington, opus premier | Napoleon Washington : what about that name ? | Une bio rapide | A condensed bio | Napoleon Washington : pourquoi ce nom ? | Premier disque de Napoleon | Respect | Serious Acoustic Blues | The Five Blind Boys from the Parish | The Road To Washington | The Washington TV ! | The Washington TV ! | Un CD Noir étincelant | La voix intérieure | Un voyage avec air conditionné | Archives : The Washington Theater | Archives : Le Washington Theater | Washington en concert à Caen