Ernie Watts
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Ernie Watts | |
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| Website | erniewatts |
Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is a Grammy-winning American jazz and R&B
Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's album The Grand Wazoo he played the "Mystery Horn", a straight-necked C melody saxophone. Watts also played the notable sax riff on "The One You Love" from Glenn Frey
's album No Fun Aloud.
Biography
Watts was born in
Down Beat magazine scholarship.
He toured with Buddy Rich in the late 1960s, occupying one of the alto saxophone chairs, and visited Africa on a U.S. State Department tour with Oliver Nelson
's group.
He toured with Buddy Rich in the late 1960s, occupying one of the alto saxophone chairs, and visited Africa on a U.S. State Department tour with Oliver Nelson
Watts played alto saxophone with
Grammy Awards
as an instrumentalist.
Watts was added to the lineup of backing musicians on the fifth show of
Let Me Go". Watts can be heard on Still Life
, the live album recorded during the tour.
In the mid 1980s, Watts decided to rededicate himself to jazz. He recorded and toured with German guitarist and composer
Steve Smith, and keyboardist Tom Coster. He was invited to join Charlie Haden's Quartet West; the two met backstage one night after Haden heard Watts play "Nightbird" by Michel Colombier
.
Watts also played on soundtracks for the movies Grease and The Color Purple and on the theme song for the TV show Night Court.[1] In 1982, his version of "Chariots of Fire" was featured in the Season 4 episode of WKRP in Cincinnati ("The Creation of Venus"). He was featured on one of Windows XP's sample tracks,
"Highway Blues" by New Stories.[2]
In 1986, Watts visited South America with the Pat Metheny Special Quartet alongside Charlie Haden and Paul Wertico, playing at Shams in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 2008, his album Analog Man won the Independent Music Award for Best Jazz Album.[3] He played on Kurt Elling's album Dedicated to You, which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2011.
Discography
As leader
- Planet Love (Pacific Jazz, 1969)
- The Wonder Bag (Vault, 1972)
- Look in Your Heart (Elektra, 1980)
- Chariots of Fire (Qwest, 1982)
- Musician (Qwest, 1985)
- Sanctuary (Qwest, 1986)
- The Ernie Watts Quartet (JVC, 1987 [1991])
- Afoxe with Gilberto Gil (CTI, 1991)
- Reaching Up (JVC, 1994)
- Unity (JVC, 1995)
- Long Road Home (JVC, 1996)
- Classic Moods (JVC, 1998)
- Reflections with Ron Feuer (Flying Dolphin, 2000)
- Alive (Flying Dolphin, 2004)
- Spirit Song (Flying Dolphin, 2005)
- Analog Man (Flying Dolphin, 2006)
- To The Point (Flying Dolphin, 2007)
- Four Plus Four (Flying Dolphin, 2009)
- Oasis (Flying Dolphin, 2011)
- A Simple Truth (Flying Dolphin, 2014)
- Wheel of Time (Flying Dolphin, 2016)
- Home Light (Flying Dolphin, 2018)
With Karma
As a member
The GRP All-Star Big Band
- GRP All-Star Big Band (GRP, 1992)
- Dave Grusin Presents the GRP All-Star Big Band Live!, (GRP, 1993)
- All Blues, (GRP, 1995)
The Super Black Blues Band
(With T-Bone Walker, Otis Spann and Joe Turner)
- Super Black Blues (BluesTime, 1969)
As sideman
|
With Billy Alessi and Bobby Alessi
With Paul Anka
With Patti Austin
With Donald Byrd
With Christopher Cross
With Marvin Gaye
With Charlie Haden
With Bobby Hutcherson
With Quincy Jones With Carole King
With Teena Marie
With Lee Ritenour
With Boz Scaggs
With Lalo Schifrin
With Frankie Valli
With Deniece Williams
With Gerald Wilson
With Bill Withers
With Betty Wright
|
With others
|
References
- ^ "Watts, Ernie (James Ernest) – Jazz.com | Jazz Music – Jazz Artists – Jazz News". Jazz.com. October 23, 1945. Archived from the original on November 8, 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
- ^ "The official home page for Ernie Watts". ErnieWatts.com. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived March 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Karma - Celebration (LP liner notes). Horizon/A&M Records. SP-713
- ^ Karma - For Everybody (LP liner notes). Horizon/A&M Records. SP-723
External links
- Official website
- Ernie Watts Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2020)
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