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Europe Jazz Network |
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Unlike the Parker generation, Bobby Watson came up a surer and more measured path. He trained, at the suggestion of his friend guitarist Pat Metheny, at the University of Miami along with Jaco Pastorius, Bruce Hornsby and Danny Gottlieb. Then, he got his doctorate as musical director of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the ultimate postgraduate school for ambitious young players. Along the way he worked with drummers Panama Francis, Max Roach and Louis Hayes, with saxophonist George Coleman, as well as Sam Rivers' avant-garde Winds of Manhattan. In association with drummer Victor Lewis, Watson launched the first edition of Horizon, his acoustic quintet. He's also led the High Court of Swing, a tribute to the music of Johnny Hodges, and the highly-acclaimed 29th Street Saxophone Quartet. Watson has a sound that will never be mistaken for anyone else's: bright, almost brassy, phrased in lung-busting continuous lines, and punctuated by a plangent trademark swoop down the scale. He's also mastered a circular breathing technique which enables him to play continuous riffs! In stylistic terms, Watson reaches out for territory beyong the confines of jazz. "I've always tried to avoid categorization. I like to think that I'm open to all styles. When I was with Blakey and Panama Francis, I learned how to groove in real time. Back when I was at college, my band played jazz early and funk late." Twenty-three years after Charlie Parker, but also in Kansas, another child was born who was to make the alto saxophone his calling card to the world. Bobby Watson isn't in Kansas any more. Recent years have seen him negotiating the perverse Oz of major label contracts and gigging like a mad thing to SRO crowds around the world. He used to call himself Robert. He used to be thought of as first and foremost a jazz saxophone player. But now everything about Watson suggests that he's about to break through to something really big. By the late 1980s, Watson had become one of the best-kept secrets in jazz. His Columbia release, Present Tense, was hailed by Peter Watrous in Musicians Magazine and the New York Times as "one of those perfect albums", as it rode high on Billboard charts and radio play lists. His follow-up, Tailor Made, was a 17 piece big band project that broadened his artistic vision and his audience. His career in high gear, Watson headlined at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and major U.S. and international jazz festivals. He was consistently a Critic's and Reader's pick in the music polls. Watson also found time to interpret the works of Debussy and Chopin on Pride of Lions (Sony Masterworks), and to produce several younger artists (including Ryan Kisor and David Sanchez). He also composed original music for Robert DeNiro's directorial debut film, "A Bronx Tale". With his current ensemble, Bobby Watson & Urban Renewal, has "gone electric" and Bobby will add for the first time tenor sax and flute to his arsenal. Biography courtesy of Saudades Tourneen (by Kokopelli Records Inc.). |