A Beautiful Friendship by Donald Kahn

Peter Washington (born on August 28, 1964 in Los Angeles, California) is a jazz double bassist. He played with the Westchester Community Symphony at the age of 14. Later he played electric bass in rock bands. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he majored in English Literature, and performed with the San Francisco Youth Symphony and the UC Symphony Orchestra. His growing interest in jazz led him to play with John Handy, Bobby Hutcherson, Harold Land, Frank Morgan, Ernestine Anderson, Chris Connor and other Bay Area luminaries. In 1986 he joined Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers and moved to New York City. Beginning in the 1990s, he toured with the Tommy Flanagan trio until Flanagan's death in 2001, and has played with the Bill Charlap trio since 1997. He was a founding member of the collective hard bop sextet One for All and is a visiting artist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In 2008, Washington played with The Blue Note 7, an all-star septet formed in honor of the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records. His extensive discography numbers more than 400 recordings, and speaks to a constant demand for his services as a versatile side man.