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Ernie Watts

Two-time Grammy Award winner Ernie Watts is one of the most versatile and prolific saxophone players on the music scene. In a diverse career that has spanned more than thirty years, he has been featured on more than 500 recordings by artists ranging from Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa, always exhibiting his unforgettable trademark sound.

After 18 solo records for a variety of labels, large and small, Watts started Flying Dolphin Records, a company he runs with his wife Patricia. Flying Dolphin (distributed by Burnside Distribution Corp.) begins a new chapter for the artist’s creative expression. “I’ve been touring and recording for over 30 years in every kind of musical setting. I’ve reached a place in my life and career where I need to make music on my terms. Starting my own label provided me with a new sense of freedom.”

“Analog Man” (2007) is his newest release, recorded with his European quartet, a cohesive group of outstanding players who have been touring together since 1999. The artist’s passion for and commitment to acoustic jazz is clear on this release. Watts and his quartet explore new ground through the strength of their individual voices, while consistently demonstrating the group’s musical unity. From the funky hard-bop groove of the title track to the melodic soprano of “Paseando,” Watts’ broad-spectrum talent is fully realized. Watts contributes many original songs to the session and also shows his aptitude for finding covers that his quartet can impressively interpret. The quartet’s take on Victor Feldman's classic “Joshua” demonstrates the ongoing dialog among the musicians. The CD closes with another original Morning Prayer, a meditative piece melding tenor and Burmese Temple Bell, the sole instruments on the track.

“Spirit Song,”(2005) which preceded “Analog Man,” was Watts’ first studio recording as a leader since the release of “Classic Moods” (JVC) in 1999. On the title track, he starts the song’s story on the handmade wooden Spirit Flute, and takes the haunting theme further on tenor saxophone, deeper and more richly into jazz, then leads it back to the gentle flute at the close. “The title Spirit Song refers to more than just the Spirit Flute used to frame track 9,” reflects Watts. “It means a wider, higher Spirit, that is expressed in music and in all aspects of ourselves, that connects us all indelibly, whatever birthplace we have or life we may have lived.” Prior to “Spirit Song,” Flying Dolphin released Ernie Watts Quartet ALIVE (2004) recorded live in Germany. Throughout his long and fruitful career, he has not previously made a live recording of his own, capturing a stage performance with no editing or overdubs. The chance to hear Watts at immediate heat in the midst of his own music is a special occasion, only available before to his concert audiences. All Flying Dolphin releases are available at Watts’ concerts and the artist’s site www.erniewatts.com. (via CDBaby.com).

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Radio & Podcasts

In the Studios-West Coast: Part 2

Read "In the Studios-West Coast: Part 2" reviewed by Monk Rowe


Los Angeles eventually rivaled New York as a center for recording with an emphasis on pop music and film scores. Jazz players were the go-to hires once again. Paul Smith, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, Wayne Bergeron, and Tom Scott take us inside the L.A. recording studios. ...

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What is Jazz?

Seattle Jazz Fellowship: How One Week Told the Story of a Jazz Nonprofit's First Year

Read "Seattle Jazz Fellowship: How One Week Told the Story of a Jazz Nonprofit's First Year" reviewed by Paul Rauch


When jny: Seattle-based trumpeter Thomas Marriott announced the founding of a new 501(c)3 nonprofit to support the local jazz scene in his hometown, both the enormity of its possibilities and its challenges merged front and center in the collective mind of the Seattle jazz community. Over the past decade, the city had lost its two main venues that staged jazz featuring musicians from its historically vibrant scene. Both The New Orleans Creole Restaurant in Pioneer Square and Tula's ...

Album Review

Frank Zappa: Waka/Wazoo

Read "Waka/Wazoo" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


Il programma dela pubblicazione di inediti zappiani in occasione del loro cinquantesimo anniversario, iniziato con il box set The Hot Rats Session e proseguito con i cofanetti dedicati alle Mothers del 1970 e 1971 e alla colonna sonora del film 200 Motels, prosegue ora con quello che probabilmente è il titolo più atteso, da tempo annunciato e ora finalmente disponibile. Il nuovo cofanetto Waka/Wazoo contenente 4 CD di materiale inedito e un Blu-Ray celebra i 50 anni dalla pubblicazione di ...

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Album Review

Andy Wheelock: View from Here

Read "View from Here" reviewed by Jack Bowers


When high-caliber musicians invest time and effort to produce music they believe in, one is loath to dismiss it as anything less than persuasive. On the other hand, any assessment of Colorado-based drummer Andy Wheelock's album, View from Here, must be tempered by an awareness that this is his special view, and that of his group, and that the overall result may not be embraced with equal fervor by every ear. That is one way of saying ...

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Album Review

Diane Schuur: Running on Faith

Read "Running on Faith" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Pianist and vocalist Diane “Deedles" Schuur and Wessell “Warmdaddy" Anderson may be the last jazz artists to have musically-anointed monikers, from a genre replete with them (Lester “Prez" Young, Billie “Lady Day" Holiday, Johnny “Rabbit" Hodges, Julian “Cannonball" Adderley and “John Birks “Dizzy" Gillespie). Schuur was named “Deedles" as a child by her mother. The name stuck and proved both inspirational and descriptive for the accomplished singer and pianist, blind from birth, who has performed with the luminaries of jazz. ...

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Album Review

New Stories: Speakin' Out

Read "Speakin' Out" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of a ground-breaking album in their catalog of jazz, Origin Records reissues Speakin' Out from the Grammy-nominated Seattle-based trio with guest Ernie Watts on saxophones. The trio consisting of pianist Marc Seales, bassist Doug Miller and drummer John Bishop, were instrumental in developing the label's sound but, it was their 2000 and third album as a group that caught fire with saxophonist giant Ernie Watts providing the fuel that propelled the Origin Record name to international ...

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Album Review

New Stories: Speakin' Out

Read "Speakin' Out" reviewed by Jack Bowers


New Stories is a seasoned piano trio (and a very good one) rendered even more persuasive on Speakin' Out by the singular presence (on five of nine tracks) of renowned saxophone maestro Ernie Watts. The trio itself consists of pianist Marc Seales, bassist Doug Miller and drummer (and Origin Records founder) John Bishop. The wide-selling album, a centerpiece of Origin's catalog since its initial release in 2000, when New Stories was only two years old, has been re-released this year ...

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Recording

'That's Right!,' The Recording Debut Of Trumpeter Brad Goode's Quintet Featuring Tenor Titan Ernie Watts, Set For October 19 Release By Origin Records

'That's Right!,' The Recording Debut Of Trumpeter Brad Goode's Quintet Featuring Tenor Titan Ernie Watts, Set For October 19 Release By Origin Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

That’s Right!, the recording debut of trumpeter Brad Goode’s quintet featuring tenor titan Ernie Watts, documents the virtuosity and versatility of one of the tightest working bands on the contemporary jazz scene. Set for October 19 release by Origin Records, the album is a powerful showcase for Goode’s ideal quintet as well as the soloing chops and writing skills of each of its members. Watts and Goode first shared the front line in a concert at the University of Colorado ...

Recording

Recent Listening And Viewing: Ernie Watts

Recent Listening And Viewing: Ernie Watts

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Ernie Watts, Wheel Of Time (Flying Dolphin) From his years with Buddy Rich in the 1960s through his long membership in the late bassist Charlie Haden’s Quartet West and for years since, the tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts has had a noteworthy career. One of his longest associations has been with his European quartet and its rhythm section of pianist Christof Saenger, bassist Rudi Engel and drummer Heinrich Koebberling. Their Wheel Of Time has compositions by each of the quartet members ...

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Education

Music Education Monday: Master classes with saxophonist Ernie Watts

Music Education Monday: Master classes with saxophonist Ernie Watts

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

For this week's Music Education Monday, you can take in a couple of master classes on video from the veteran saxophonist Ernie Watts. In addition to his own recordings as a leader, Watts (pictured) has played with an exceptional range of jazz, rock and soul musicians and groups, including Buddy Rich, Bobby Hutcherson, Doc Severinsen and the Tonight Show band, bassist Charlie Haden's Quartet West, Marvin Gaye, the Rolling Stones, and many more. He last performed in St. Louis with ...

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Event

Ernie Watts, Chuck Rainey, Liane Carroll, Impossible Gentlemen For Sligo Jazz Project 2015

Ernie Watts, Chuck Rainey, Liane Carroll, Impossible Gentlemen For Sligo Jazz Project 2015

Source: Sligo Jazz Project

Sligo Jazz Project is now taking bookings for its 10th Anniversary summer school and festival event, 21-26 July 2015. Its stellar 2015 15-tutor faculty, which includes Grammy winning US saxophone legend Ernie Watts, award winning UK vocalist Liane Carroll, Band-in-Residence The Impossible Gentlemen and recording legend Chuck Rainey (Steely Dan/ Aretha Franklin, etc.), will preside over an intense but inspiring week of workshops, masterclasses, concerts and jam sessions. All tutors will perform concerts at Sligo's unique jazz festival. The faculty ...

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Event

Tenor Legend Ernie Watts Euorpean Quartet Play Dublin's Sugar Club, May 8

Tenor Legend Ernie Watts Euorpean Quartet Play Dublin's Sugar Club, May 8

Source: All About Jazz

The Sugar Club in Dublin braces itself for the arrival on the 8th May of one of jazz’s greatest tenor saxophonists – Ernie Watts. Leading his European quartet of fifteen years standing, Watts, pianist Christof Saenger, bassist Rudi Engel and drummer Heinrich Koebberling will be playing music from Watts’ new CD, A Simple Truth (Flying Dolphin Records - a vibrant blend of bebop, modal jazz and blues. Watts’ legend began in drummer Buddy Rich’s orchestra in 1966, and over the ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: The Bad Plus Plays Stravinsky, Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet, the Brubeck Brothers, Laurence Hobgood and Ernie Watts, and More

Jazz This Week: The Bad Plus Plays Stravinsky, Marty Ehrlich's Rites Quartet, the Brubeck Brothers, Laurence Hobgood and Ernie Watts, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The good news is that it's another busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, including some very attractive free events. The bad news is that, absent time travel, cloning or some other fictional technology that doesn't exist, it's probably impossible for one person to hear it all. Nevertheless, to help you decide which shows are worth checking out, here are StLJN's picks for the week. Tonight, Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz at The Shaved Duck, ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Laurence Hobgood and Ernie Watts, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, Frank Stemper and Altgeld Chamber Players, Erika Johnson, and More

Jazz This Week: Laurence Hobgood and Ernie Watts, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman, Frank Stemper and Altgeld Chamber Players, Erika Johnson, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's schedule of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a variety of sounds, including what amounts to a mini-festival of piano players at Jazz at the Bistro, with the two out-of-town participants bringing along top tenor saxophonists. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, pianist Laurence Hobgood leads a quartet at Jazz at the Bistro for one night only, featuring tenor sax great Ernie Watts as special guest. Hobgood is best known for his long association with Kurt ...

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Performance / Tour

Ernie Watts Joining Laurence Hobgood for Bistro Gig on Thursday, April 5

Ernie Watts Joining Laurence Hobgood for Bistro Gig on Thursday, April 5

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This just in: Veteran saxophonist Ernie Watts (pictured) will join pianist Laurence Hobgood for the latter's previously announced performance on Thursday, April 5 at Jazz at the Bistro. Watts has played with Hobgood in singer Kurt Elling's band, and also is known for his work as a solo artist and with Charlie Haden's Quartet West, the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, and many others. Performing with Hobgood and Watts will be bassist Matthew Rybicki, whose credits include work with Wynton Marsalis ...

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Recording

Dave Bass Quartet Featuring Ernie Watts, Babatunde Lea, Mary Stallings, and Gary Brown Release "Gone"

Dave Bass Quartet Featuring Ernie Watts, Babatunde Lea, Mary Stallings, and Gary Brown Release "Gone"

Source: All About Jazz

David Bass on Gone

The word Gone has several meanings for me...

There's the 20-plus years I was away from the music scene, then there's the feeling when your lover leaves and your heart breaks... alone and empty, and finally, the beatnik/hipster notion of an irrevocably cool person.

I have returned to music and am proud to present these original compositions brought wonderfully alive by the musicianship of Ernie Watts, Babatunde Lea, Gary Brown, Harold Muniz, and especially Mary Stallings ...

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Performance / Tour

Ernie Watts at Jazz Alley with New Stories

Ernie Watts at Jazz Alley with New Stories

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene

ERNIE WATTS AND NEW STORIES JAZZ ALLEY February 9-10, 2010

2033 6th Avenue, Seattle WA 98121 Reservations: 206.441.9729

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitrious Jazz Alley presents two-time Grammy-Winning saxophonist Ernie Watts, touring in support of his latest release Four plus Four, for two nights. Band members joining Mr. Watts are Marc Seales (piano), Doug Miller (upright bass) and John Bishop (drums). Show times Tuesday & Wednesday at 7:30pm. Doors Tuesday at 6pm & ...

"Watts plays in a virtuosic post-Coltrane style, with a fine, distinctive tone and an expansive technique that permits him to generate long, cleanly articulated lines that dance along confidently even at challenging tempos..." -JazzTimes Magazine
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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Waka/Wazoo

Zappa Records
2022

buy

View from Here

Self Produced
2021

buy

Running on Faith

Jazzheads
2020

buy

Home Light

Flying Dolphin Records
2018

buy

Wheel of Time

Flying Dolphin Records
2017

buy

Wheel of Time

Flying Dolphin Records
2016

buy

California Avenue

From: Sleek Buick
By Ernie Watts

Oasis

From: Oasis
By Ernie Watts

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