Washington and Chamblee: A Husband-and-Wife Conversation
Eddie Chamblee's saxophone turns these Waller standards into playful duets, making the album feel like eavesdropping on intimacy.
What makes this album stand out is the presence of Eddie Chamblee, Washington's husband at the time, joining her on saxophone for several tracks, most memorably on 'Honeysuckle Rose.' You don't often hear married couples making records together, and when it works, there's something genuine about it—not rehearsed, but conversational. Chamblee doesn't try to match Washington's power. Instead, he plays around it, suggesting rather than stating, which gives these Waller tunes a lighter touch than you might expect from a singer of Washington's demonstrative intensity.
Washington's approach to the twelve Waller compositions is refreshingly straightforward. She doesn't deconstruct these songs or impose some elaborate arrangement philosophy on them. She sings them, and she sings them well—with the kind of ease that comes from respecting material without being afraid of it. The AllMusic reviewer noted that Washington 'effortlessly handles Waller classics while turning in particularly emotive renditions,' which is accurate enough, though 'effortless' undersells the care she brings to phrasing. What she does here is bring her own weight to Waller's vivacious songwriting without drowning it.
This is a solid, enjoyable record—not a peak moment in Washington's catalog, but a place where she sounds comfortable and her husband's presence actually matters. If you want to hear Washington at her most commanding, you'll find it elsewhere. But if you want to understand what drew her to these Waller standards and how she and Chamblee played off each other, this recording captures something real.
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