Bobby Watson
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
post-bop
Post-bop
Post-bop is a term for a form of small-combo jazz music that evolved in the early-to-mid sixties. The genre's origins lie in seminal work by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
alto saxophonist
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, composer, producer, and educator. Watson now has 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on nearly 100 other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role. Watson has recorded more than 100 original compositions and his long-time publisher.
Biography
Watson grew up in Bonner Springs, KansasBonner Springs, Kansas
Bonner Springs is a river city in Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a suburb in the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. The vast majority of the city, which lies in Wyandotte County, is part of the "Unified Government" which contains Kansas City,...
and Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
. He attended the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
along with fellow students Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius and Bruce Hornsby. After graduating in 1975, he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and joined Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
's Jazz Messengers. The Jazz Messengers, sometimes referred to as the "University of Blakey," served as the ultimate "postgraduate school" for ambitious young players. He performed with the Jazz Messengers from 1977 to 1981, eventually becoming the musical director for the group.
After completing his tenure as a Jazz Messenger, Watson became a much-sought after musician, working along the way with many notable musicians, including: drummers Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
and Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes
Louis Hayes is an American jazz drummer.-Biography:His father played drums and piano and his mother the piano and he refers to the early influence of hearing jazz, especially that of big bands, on the radio...
, fellow saxophonists George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
and Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...
, multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
. In addition to working with a variety of instrumentalists, Watson has served in a supporting role for a number of distinguished and stylistically varied vocalists including: Joe Williams
Joe Williams (jazz singer)
Joe Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.-Early life:...
, Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves
Dianne Reeves is an American jazz singer. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.-Early life:Reeves was born in Detroit, Michigan to a very musical family. Her father, who died when she was two years old, was also a singer. Her mother, Vada Swanson, played trumpet. A cousin, George Duke, is a...
, Lou Rawls
Lou Rawls
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
, Betty Carter
Betty Carter
Betty Carter was an American jazz singer renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style...
, and Carmen Lundy
Carmen Lundy
Carmen Lundy is an American jazz singer, composer, songwriter, actress, and painter. She has been performing for three decades, with a focus on original material. She has been positively compared with Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan...
, and has performed as a sideman with Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, George Coleman
George Coleman
George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...
, Rufus and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
, Bob Belden
Bob Belden
James Robert Belden is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader and producer. He is noted for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording titled The Black Dahlia. He is also a past head of A & R for Blue Note Records.Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in...
and John Hicks
John Hicks (jazz pianist)
John Josephus Hicks, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and composer, active in the New York and the international jazz scene from the mid-1960s.-Biography:...
.
Later, in association with bassist Curtis Lundy
Curtis Lundy
Curtis Lundy is an American double bass player, composer, producer, choir director and arranger. Lundy is best-known for his work as part of jazz vocalist Betty Carter's band, through whose ranks several eventually renowned musicians have passed....
and drummer Victor Lewis
Victor Lewis
Victor Lewis is an American jazz drummer, a major force in the genre since the 1980s.-As leader:*1992: Family Portrait - with John Stubblefield, Edward Simon, Cecil McBee, Don Alias, Jumma Santos...
, Watson started the first edition of Horizon, an acoustic quintet modeled after the Jazz Messengers but with its own slightly more modern twist. The group recorded several titles for the Blue Note and Columbia record labels.
In addition to his work as leader of Horizon, Watson also led a group known as the High court of Swing (a tribute to the music of Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
), The Tailor-Made Big Band (16 pieces in all) and is a founding member of the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet
29th Street Saxophone Quartet
The 29th Street Saxophone Quartet was an American saxophone quartet. Established in 1982, the ensembles members are alto saxophonists Bobby Watson and Ed Jackson, tenor saxophonist Rich Rothenberg , and baritone saxophonist Jim Hartog...
, an all-horn, four-piece group with alto saxophonist Ed Jackson, tenor saxophonist Rich Rothenberg, and baritone saxophonist Jim Hartog. Watson also composed an original song for the soundtrack of Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's A Bronx Tale
A Bronx Tale
A Bronx Tale is a 1993 American crime drama film set in The Bronx during the turbulent era of the 1960s. It was the directorial debut of Robert De Niro, and follows a young Italian-American teenager as his path in life is guided by two father figures, played by De Niro and Chazz Palminteri...
(1993).
A resident of New York for most of his professional life, Watson served as a member of the adjunct faculty and taught private saxophone at William Patterson University from 1985 to 1986 and the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
from 1996 to 1999. He is currently involved with the Thelonious Monk Institute's yearly "Jazz in America" high school outreach program.
In 2000, he was approached to return to his native midwestern surroundings on the Kansas-Missouri border. Watson was selected as the first William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri, Distinguished Professorship in Jazz Studies. The past six years he has served as the director of jazz studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City
University of Missouri–Kansas City
The University of Missouri–Kansas City is a public university located in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It is a branch of the University of Missouri System. Its main campus is in Kansas City's Rockhill neighborhood east of the Country Club Plaza...
Conservatory of Music although he still manages to balance live engagements around the world with his teaching responsibilities. Watson's ensembles at UMKC have garnered several awards and national recognition.
As leader
- 1980: Estimated Time Of Arrival
- 1983: Perpetual Groove (Red RecordsRed RecordsRed Records is an Italian jazz record label established in 1976.Artists who have recorded for the label include Joe Henderson, Bobby Watson, Billy Higgins, Roberto Gatto, Franco d'Andrea, Dave Liebman, Cedar Walton, Edward Simon, Stafford James, Ray Mantilla, Jim Snidero, Black Note, Julius...
) - 1984: Advance (Enja RecordsEnja RecordsEnja Records is a German jazz record label based in Munich, Germany. It was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971....
) - 1985: Round Trip (Red RecordsRed RecordsRed Records is an Italian jazz record label established in 1976.Artists who have recorded for the label include Joe Henderson, Bobby Watson, Billy Higgins, Roberto Gatto, Franco d'Andrea, Dave Liebman, Cedar Walton, Edward Simon, Stafford James, Ray Mantilla, Jim Snidero, Black Note, Julius...
) - 1986: Love Remains (Red) with John Hicks, Curtis LundyCurtis LundyCurtis Lundy is an American double bass player, composer, producer, choir director and arranger. Lundy is best-known for his work as part of jazz vocalist Betty Carter's band, through whose ranks several eventually renowned musicians have passed....
, Marvin Smitty Smith - 1987: Beatitudes (Evidence)
- 1987: The Year Of The Rabbit (Evidence) with Art BaronArt BaronArt Baron is an American jazz trombonist. He also plays didgeridoo, conch shell, penny-whistle, alto and bass recorder, and tuba.Baron is an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music...
, Mulgrew MillerMulgrew MillerMulgrew Miller is an American jazz pianist who performs in a number of jazz idioms. He began his career as member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.-Biography:... - 1991: Present Tense (Columbia)
- 1993: This Little Light Of Mine (Red)
- 1993: Midwest Shuffle (Columbia) with Victor Lewis
- 1995: Urban Renewal (Kokopelli RecordsKokopelli RecordsKokopelli Records was a record label established by jazz flautist Herbie Mann during the 1990s. Mann had previously established Embryo Records during his tenure at Atlantic Records.-Discography:*1994: Deep Pocket - Herbie Mann...
) - 1998: Quiet As It's Kept (Red)
- 1998: The Bobby Watson/Curtis Lundy Project
- 2000: In The Groove
- 2002: Live & Learn
- 2004: Horizon Reassembled (Palmetto RecordsPalmetto RecordsPalmetto Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1990 by Matt Balitsaris. -Artists:*Ben Allison*Lili Anel*Matt Wilson*Fred Hersch*Ted Nash*Bill Mays*Larry Goldings*David Berkman*Dr...
) - 2006: Soulful Serendipity with James WilliamsJames Williams (musician)James Williams was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Williams began playing piano at age 13, and served as the organist at the Eastern Star Baptist Church in Memphis for six years early in his career. He attended Memphis State University, where he began playing jazz...
As sideman
With SuperblueSuperblue (band)
Superblue was an American jazz ensemble that released two albums for Blue Note Records in 1988 and 1989.-Supeblue:Superblue featured an octet including Bobby Watson, Roy Hargrove, Mulgrew Miller, Frank Lacy, Bill Pierce, Kenny Washington, Don Sickler, Bob Hurst.#"Open Sesame"#"I Remember...
- Superblue (1988, Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
)
with Horizon
- The Inventor (Blue Note, 1989)
- Post-Motown Bop (Blue Note, 1991)
with The Jazz Tribe
- The Jazz Tribe (Red, 1990)
- The Next Step (Red, 1999)
With Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
- ColoursColours (Sam Rivers album)Colours is an album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring Winds of Manhattan, an 11 piece woodwind orchestra, recorded in 1982 for the Italian Black Saint label.-Reception:...
(Black Saint, 1982)
with the Twenty Ninth Street Saxophone Quartet
- Pointillistic Groove (Osmosis, 1984) with Ed JacksonEd JacksonEdward L. "Ed" Jackson was the 32nd Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from January 12, 1925, to January 14, 1929. A member of Indiana branch of the Ku Klux Klan, he became involved in several scandals that continued throughout his term in office...
, Rich Rothenberg, Jim Hartog - The Real Deal (New Note, 1987) with Ed JacksonEd JacksonEdward L. "Ed" Jackson was the 32nd Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from January 12, 1925, to January 14, 1929. A member of Indiana branch of the Ku Klux Klan, he became involved in several scandals that continued throughout his term in office...
, Rich Rothenberg, Jim Hartog - Underground (Antilles RecordsAntilles RecordsAntilles Records was an American record label that was a subsidiary of Island Records.Its jazz catalog is now managed by Verve Records.-Discography:*1001 Joanne Brackeen - Special Identity 1981*1002 Biréli Lagrène- Routes To Django 1980...
, 1991) with Hugh MasekelaHugh MasekelaHugh Ramopolo Masekela is a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer.-Early life:Masekela was born in Kwa-Guqa Township, Witbank, South Africa. He began singing and playing piano as a child...
, Benny GreenBenny GreenBenny Green was a British jazz saxophonist, who was best known by the public for his radio shows and books.- Early life :...
, Curtis LundyCurtis LundyCurtis Lundy is an American double bass player, composer, producer, choir director and arranger. Lundy is best-known for his work as part of jazz vocalist Betty Carter's band, through whose ranks several eventually renowned musicians have passed....
, Victor LewisVictor LewisVictor Lewis is an American jazz drummer, a major force in the genre since the 1980s.-As leader:*1992: Family Portrait - with John Stubblefield, Edward Simon, Cecil McBee, Don Alias, Jumma Santos... - Milano New York Bridge (Red, 1993)
with the Taylor Made Big Band
- Taylor Made (Columbia) with Steve TurreSteve TurreSteve Turre is a trombonist, recording artist, arranger, and educator. In 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006 he won the Down Beat Reader's Poll for best trombonist....
, Robin EubanksRobin EubanksRobin Eubanks is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks.-Biography:...
, Jon FaddisJon FaddisJon Faddis is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator renowned for both his highly virtuosic command of the instrument and for his expertise in the field of music education... - Live At Someday In Tokyo (2000, with Tokyo Leaders Big Band)