Birth name Ernest James Watts Name Ernie Watts Genres Jazz, rhythm and blues Role Musician · erniewatts.com | Occupation(s) Musician Years active 1960s–present | |
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Born October 23, 1945 (age 78)
Norfolk, Virginia, United States ( 1945-10-23 ) Instruments Saxophone, flute, clarinet Labels Motown, Tamla, Atlantic, Warner Bros., A&M, CBS, Qwest Records, Movies Lee Ritenour: Live in Montreal with Special Guests Albums Classic Moods, Rhapsody in White, The Best of Barry White's L, Project: Activation Earth, FOUR plus FOUR | ||
Education Berklee College of Music | ||
John coltrane and charlie parker blew my mind ernie watts
Ernest James "Ernie" Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's album The Grand Wazoo he played the "Mystery Horn", a straight-necked C melody saxophone. He played the notable saxophone riff on The One You Love by Glenn Frey.
Contents
- John coltrane and charlie parker blew my mind ernie watts
- Ernie watts a melodic approach to improvisation
- Biography
- As leader
- As sideman
- References
Ernie watts a melodic approach to improvisation
Biography
Watts was born in Norfolk, Virginia, and began playing saxophone at thirteen. After a brief period at West Chester University, he attended the Berklee College of Music on a Down Beat magazine scholarship. He toured with Buddy Rich in the mid-1960s, occupying one of the alto saxophone chairs, with Lou Marini occupying the other. He visited Africa on a U.S. State Department tour with Oliver Nelson's group. For twenty years he played tenor saxophone with The Tonight Show Band under Doc Severinsen. He was a featured soloist on many of Marvin Gaye's albums on Motown during the 1970s, as well as on many other pop and R&B sessions during his twenty-five years as a studio musician in Los Angeles. He has won two Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist.
In the mid-1980s Watts decided to rededicate himself to jazz. He recorded and toured with German guitarist and composer Torsten de Winkel, drummer Steve Smith, and keyboardist Tom Coster. He was invited to join Charlie Haden's Quartet West. They met backstage one night after Haden heard Watts play "Nightbird" by Michel Colombier. Watts played on soundtracks for the movies Grease and The Color Purple and on the theme song for the TV show Night Court.
He was featured in the Windows XP edition Jazz preview. The song he was featured in was "Highway Blues".
In 2008, his album Analog Man won the Independent Music Award for Best Jazz Album. He played on Kurt Elling's album Dedicated to You, which won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2011.
As leader
With Karma
As sideman
With Billy Alessi and Bobby Alessi
With Gene Ammons
With Paul Anka
With Willie Bobo
With Brass Fever
With Kenny Burrell
With Lee Ritenour
With David Axelrod
With Donald Byrd
With Stanley Clarke
With Randy Crawford
With Donna Summer
Donna Summer (Eponymous Quincy Jones Producer 1982)
With Kurt Elling
With Marvin Gaye
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Charlie Haden
With Bobby Hutcherson
With Milt Jackson
With J. J. Johnson
With Carole King
With Charles Kynard
With Eric Martin
With John Mayall
With Carmen McRae
With Blue Mitchell
With Helen Reddy
With New Stories
With Moacir Santos
With Lalo Schifrin
With Bud Shank
With Gábor Szabó
With Gino Vannelli
With Gerald Wilson
With Torsten de Winkel and Hellmut Hattler