By Caleb (171.75.81.3) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 11:32 am:

Bobby,can you talk a little about Larry Washington-loved his conga work.

By Eli (152.163.252.68) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 01:17 pm:

Larry Washington was a very likeable guy who always made us laugh with his "tall tales" and exagerrated comments such as(as he wipes brow) "sorry I'm late fellas,my son fell out of a third story window and I had to take him to the hospital!!"
His playing was the glue that held our band together, especially that "gallop" which you hear prominantly on I'll be around and the "moose call" which you can hear on People make the world go round.
Sessions were just not the same without Larry there.
When things started to slow down he took a job driving a school bus and later developed a heart condition and suffered from a debilitating stroke which left him nearly sightless.
Sadly, Larry passed away several years ago and was cremated..

By Caleb (171.75.81.60) on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 12:30 am:

That's for that info Bobby.He definitely had it goin' on those congas.Love the intro to I'll Be Around.Was he given free reign to play what he felt or was he instructed slash guided on what to play on pir records in general?

By Caleb (171.75.84.194) on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 09:27 pm:

Just wanted to bring this up Bobby.

By Eli (152.163.252.68) on Friday, July 18, 2003 - 11:29 pm:

Hi Caleb,

Larry was usually given free reign because he uncannily always played patterns that fit the track.
There were some other conga andpercussion players
that worked with us.
very early on we had "Rogie" Kenyatta, Abu Johnson, James walker, David"Daoud" Cruse, but Larry was always on every session no matter who else played on it!!

By the way, it was Larry who gave my late wife my phone number as she was looking for a guitar instructor!!