RIP Jackie Washington

[SteelTown]

Music icon Jackie Washington dies
Passed away Saturday afternoon

June 27, 2009
Graham Rockingham
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Jackie Washington, a cultural icon who spread joy through his music for more than 80 years, has died.

The Hamilton jazz and blues singer passed away peacefully at Joseph’s hospital at 1:22 p.m. today (Saturday), surrounded by close family and friends.

Washington died from complications resulting from a heart attack. He was 89.

Washington was admitted to the hospital’s cardiac care ward two weeks ago after experiencing difficulty breathing. He was moved to the intensive care unit following the heart attack Monday, but never recovered.

The grandson of a runaway slave, Washington was known as much for the good humoured stories he told as the songs he sang.

He recorded three solo albums and four more with friends and collaborators Mose Scarlett and Ken Whiteley, earning a Juno nomination in 1993.

He was also one of Canada’s first black broadcasters, working as a disc jockey playing jazz during the ‘40s and ‘50s for two Hamilton radio stations.

As well, he did stints as a railway porter, factory worker, washroom attendant at Duffy’s Tavern, and shoeshine operator at the Fort Erie race track.

Washington had an encyclopedic knowledge of old-time music, listing almost 1,300 songs in his repertoire. He knew most of them by heart. He specialized in the music of the ‘30s and ‘40s and, at his peak, was one of the better scat and jazz stylists in the country.

In recent years, arthritis prevented him from playing his beloved guitar. Despite poor health — diabetes left him blind in one eye and forced the amputation of his right leg 20 years ago — Washington continued singing whenever there was an audience.

He last performed in public three weeks ago (June 3) during a special reception at McMaster’s Convocation Hall to thank him for donating a collection of his music, personal papers, photos and artwork to the university archives.

He was honoured many times during his long life, being inducted into the Canadian Jazz and Blues Hall of Fame in 2002, as well as being granted lifetime achievement awards by the Hamilton Music Awards (2003), the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (2001), the Maple Blues Awards (1998) and the Ontario Arts Council (1991). Washington was also presented with a Hamilton Arts Award in 1984 and inducted into Hamilton’s Gallery of Distinction in 1995.

McMaster University granted him a honorary Doctorate in Humanities in 2003, an extraordinary accomplishment for a man who never completed high school.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

[rousseau]

My condolences. Jackie was brother to Dick, who passed away a number of years ago. Dick played drums in a jazz combo with Fred Purser on sax, Dick's long-haired guitar playing nephew who's been well known in Hamilton for years (can't think of his name) and a Vietnam vet bassist (also can't think of his name). They were "Fred Purser and the Washingtons."

In the mid 1980s they had a regular gig at the Patio Cafe at the corner of Duke and James. I was in the first flush of an undergraduate infatuation with all things jazz at the time (Monk, Coltrane, Miles, Rollins, etc.), and so discovering Fred Purser was a revelation. One legendary evening Dick finished off a number by scraping his stick up against the dart board on the wall just behind him as a final flourish. It was like he (and they) could do no wrong, and to this day that magic moment is one of the touchstones of those halycon days for me and one of my friends.

Jackie's music was never my cup of tea, but I certainly did appreciate his presence in Hamilton, in particular owing to his connection with Fred Purser. A Steeltown icon has passed, and it behooves the city to commemorate him.