Ernie Watts

Because he was involved with many commercial saving projects in the mid-’70s through the first ’80s and on an intermittent basis since, some observers wrote Ernie Watts off prematurely being a pop/R&B tenorman. In fact, Watts’ primary hero is definitely John Coltrane, and his afterwards function reveals him to become a rigorous and masterful jazz improviser who is rolling out his very own sheets-of-sound approach plus a distinct and soulful audio. After participating in Berklee, he previously a significant stint with Pal Rich’s big music group (1966-1968) before shifting to LA. Watts worked within the big rings of Oliver Nelson and Gerald Wilson, documented with Jean-Luc Ponty in 1969, and became an employee musician for NBC, executing using the Tonight Present Band frequently. His own information from the 1970s and early ’80s had been generally pop-ish (1982’s Chariots of Fireplace was a big vendor), and W played often with Lee Ritenour and Stanley Clarke, furthermore to documenting with Cannonball Adderley (one of is own idols) in 1972. Nevertheless, Ernie W’ function became a lot more interesting from a jazz standpoint beginning in the middle-’80s when he became a member of Charlie Haden’s Quartet Western and started documenting no-nonsense quartet times for JVC. Ernie W is rolling out into probably one of the most effective of tenormen with full control over his horn and the capability to bring strength and enthusiasm (plus flavor) to any musical scenario.