Justin Thyme/Gary Washburn

Gary Washburn(2011)

BIOGRAPHY OF GARY WASHBURN

Gary Washburn grew up and attended public school in Skiatook, Oklahoma. He was very active in music, taking piano lessons and playing in the school band. However, his original career goal was to be in Veterinary Medicine.

But, along the way his brother, Kent (also a graduate of Skiatook HS, class of 1960), got involved in a dance band called The Shadow Lake Eight. Gary was very enthusiastic about what his brother was doing, and practiced and learned the piano parts for that performing group. He was sitting in, and subbing as piano player in the group before he was even old enough to drive a car!

By his Junior year in High School, he had become the main piano player for the Shadow Lake Eight, and performed regularly with them throughout his Junior and Senior year in High School, plus went with them each summer of 1963 and 1964 to play at Rockaway Beach Resort in southern Missouri. So by the time he graduated from high school in 1964, he was a seasoned veteran of the group.

Upon graduation from HS, Gary attended Oklahoma State University, majoring in Music and performing with the Shadow Lake Eight. He graduated from OSU in 1968 and left Oklahoma to attend the University of Hawaii where he pursued his Masters degree in Music.

He finished his Masters Degree in 1970, and took a position as High School Band Director in the town of Owasso, OK, where he taught for only the one school year of 1970-71.. Although his high school program was an award winning program, Gary fully realized that teaching high school marching band and high school concert band, and glee club was not what he wanted to spend his life doing.

The school year of 1971-72 found Gary at the University of Boston, where he began his work on his Doctorate Degree in Music.

Gary then returned to Hawaii in the summer of 1972 where he taught at the University of Hawaii, then returned to Boston in 1973 to finish his Doctorate degree.

Gary then returned yet again to Hawaii and took a position at the University of Hawaii-Hilo for the 1973-74 school year.

In 1974, Gary was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Grant to attend the prestigious McDowell Colony, specifically to write a 13 piece suite called “A Life In A Day”, which he specifically wrote for the Jazz-Fusion orientated group he had organized back in Hilo, called Justin Thyme.

After returning even again to Hawaii, Gary was awarded a Hawaii State Foundation of the Arts Grant to perform and record “A Life In A Day” with Justin Thyme, which he promptly did, then headed off to St Louis, MO where his brother was running his own independent production company (Kent Washburn Productions), producing acts for RCA and Warner Brothers.

Gary convinced his brother to take an interest in his recording of A Life In A Day, and the two of them mixed it, but that is as far as it went at that time because the main thrust of his brothers production company was mainstream Pop/R&B/Soul music for the masses.

Gary wrote and arranged for his brother there in St Louis, then accompanied him to Hollywood, where Kent had landed an exclusive production deal with Motown Records.

Gary’s successes in Hollywood were numerous, and he was making a living in the Entertainment business. He arranged many of the things on a group called Hi Inergy, a new group that his brother was producing for Motown. In addition to his arranging credits, Gary also wrote the song Searchin’, (I Got To Find My Love) that ended up on the first album of Hi Inergy, which ultimately went Gold.

Even though his success was evident during his time in Hollywood, Gary really did not like the “Entertainment biz scene”, and much to the chagrin of his brother, packed up his stuff and moved back to Hawaii for the last and final time.

Gary spent 1977 again teaching at the University of Hawaii-Hilo, then took the high school music position offered him in the town of Honokaa, HI. However, this time around at the high school level, he made it clear up front that he was not going to teach the traditional way, and the school board incredibly gave him that freedom. Over the years, his unique concept of teaching High School music built a reputation for him as one of the best music educators in the business.

This award-winning concept of High School Band is unique only unto itself. It is completely geared toward teaching students how to become popular music performers, many of them moving on from high school into the entertainment industry. To quote Gary, ”I don’t do Marching Bands… what good is that going to be for musically inclined students in this day and age. I teach them how to compete in the real music market, “Rock & Roll”.

Gary is also one of the most sought after keyboard players on the Big Island of Hawaii. He is also a published composer with his teaching compositions being published by C.L Barnhouse, and his mainstream music being published thru Monard Music, (the publishing arm of EmKay Records)

The Album, “A Life In A Day”, originally released on EmKay Records in 1979, will be re-released April 5, 2011 by Milan Entertainment and distributed by the WEA Distribution System, thru their independent label arm, ADA(Alternitive Distribution Alliace). It will be available digitally on all DSP sites such as iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Verizion, etc…, and will also be available in CD format thru Amazon’s Disk On Demand program.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ex-Motown Producer, Kent Washburn, and Milan Entertainment announce the release of “A Life In A Day”, by the group Justin Thyme.

This unique Jazz-Fusion album is a work composed by the noted Hawaiian based composer/musician/educator, Gary Washburn. “I wrote “ A Life In A Day” as a project to fulfill a National Endowment of The Arts Grant that was awarded me, and performed it to fulfill a State Foundation Grant that was also awarded me.

I composed the music in Hilo specifically for the individuals who performed the music, (much in the same manner that Duke Ellington composed for his band). It is a conceptual album which depicts cycles of life from conception and formulation through self-realization and fulfillment, and on to death which in turn presents rebirth and evolution”, states Washburn.

“We, (Justin Thyme), did a series of concerts all over the island, and they were recorded initially on a 4 track tape machine. I played it for my brother, Kent Washburn, and he agreed to put it out on his indie label, EmKay Records. The album was mixed and pressed, but the distribution company that he was with folded and the album really never made it to the public.

The album then kind of just layed around with nothing happening until a gentleman from Japan, Yusuke Ogawa, brought it back to our attention by wanting to purchase all of the remaining vinyl albums that we had. After that type of interest, Kent re-listened to the album, (which he hadn’t heard for many, many years), and realized that it was a very serious Jazz Fusion offering for those type of enthusiasts, and felt that it should be re-released for todays market.”

The musical styles used by Washburn to present this unique conceptual depiction include traditional and contemporary jazz, funk, pop, and in some passages classical.

“The recording and mixing is excellent, and the performance of Justin Thyme is very tight and completely filled with passion,” stated Kent. “I just was not properly focused when I initially released it. I was a budding record producer, and was so focused on finding “hits”, that I really didn’t see the musical artistry that was housed in this work. Well times have changed, I have slowed down, I pay more attention to the “art” instead of the “hit value”, and I am just thrilled to have the opportunity to re-release this Album on Milan Records.

The album will be released by the WEA Distribution System, thru their independent label arm, ADA(Alternitive Distribution Alliance) , April 5, 2011. It will be available digitally on all DSP sites such as iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Verizion, etc…, and will also be available in CD format thru Amazon’s Disk On Demand program.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For Additional Information, Electronic Press Kits, Biographical Materials and Live Interviews, contact: JC Chamboredon (818)849-3344 [email protected]

Awards

Gary was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts Grant to attend the prestigious McDowell Colony, specifically to write a 13 piece suite called “A Life In A Day”, which he specifically wrote for the Jazz-Fusion orientated group he had organized back in Hilo, called Justin Thyme. After returning even again to Hawaii, Gary was awarded a Hawaii State Foundation of the Arts Grant to perform and record “A Life In A Day” with Justin Thyme