Thomas Clay Washington was born in Chicago in 1944. He grew up on the South Side of the city on a large housing estate called the Ida B. Wells Project. He learned to play drums and keyboards and went on to study music with James Mack at Crane Junior College. It was the formal side of music that attracted him, although he joined the college Jazz group The Interpreters as a pianist.
During the sixties he worked with some of Brunswick’s best-known artists including Jackie Wilson, Gene Chandler and Barbara Acklin.
1970 was a very good year for Washington. He arranged two gold singles, that marked him out as a string and horn arranger who favoured powerful instrumentation and who would significantly develop the Chicago Soul sound. The first million-seller was Tyrone Davis’ “Turn Back the Hands of Time” on Dakar Records; the second was Gene Chandler’s “Groovy Situation” on Mercury Records, which features an interesting trumpet line in Washington’s arrangement.
Two years later Washington contributed to an even bigger achievement when the Chi-Lites took “Oh Girl” to the top of the charts. He was part of a strong team: Barbara Acklin and Eugene Record wrote the song, Record also produced it. Tom Washington arranged the song, and Quinton Joseph and Willie Henderson were musical directors for the recording. Between 1969 and 1998 the Chicago-based quartet released forty-one songs that entered the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. Eleven made the top ten, two reached number one (“Have You Seen Her” was the second) and Washington arranged many of them.
When Brunswick hit difficulties in the mid-seventies, Washington continued his success with other artists including Deniece Williams, Loleatta Holloway, the Jacksons and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Washington has continued to produce a stream of outstanding arrangements year after year, racking up hundreds of credits on single and album releases. He has also worked under a variety of names, the best known of which is Tom Tom 84. He has mainly worked on string and horn arrangements, but he has also featured as a musician (keyboards and percussion), songwriter, producer and conductor. Inspired by James Mack, Tom Washington has brought classical music techniques to his work, demonstrating an ability to write with great clarity and precision. His versatility is amazing.
The rich layering of sound that differentiates the best of Chicago Soul is very much his creation.
