Name Julius Watkins Role Musician | Record label Blue Note Records | |
Died April 4, 1977, Detroit, Michigan, United States Albums Julius Watkins Sextet, Les Jazz Modes, The Jazz Modes Similar People Jimmy Cleveland, Charlie Rouse, Osie Johnson, Art Taylor, Les Spann | ||
Education Manhattan School of Music |
Julius watkins temptation
Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician, and one of the first French horn players in jazz. He won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for "miscellaneous instrument" with French horn named as the instrument.
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Watkins was born in Detroit, Michigan. He began playing the French horn when he was nine years old, having played the trumpet, the recognized jazz instrument, for the Ernie Fields Orchestra in the mid-1940s. By the late 1940s, however, he had played some French horn solos on Kenny Clarke and Babs Gonzales' records. After moving to New York City, Watkins studied for three years at the Manhattan School of Music. He started appearing in small-group jazz sessions, including two led by Thelonious Monk, featuring on "Friday the 13th" on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (1954).
Watkins recorded with numerous jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Randy Weston, and with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. He co-led, with Charlie Rouse, the group Les Jazz Modes from 1956 to 1959, and he toured with Quincy Jones and his band from 1959 to 1961.
He died in Short Hills, New Jersey at the age of 55. From 1994 to 1998, an annual "Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival" was held in New York, beginning at the Knitting Factory, (NY Times, January 27, 1994, "A One-Night French Horn Festival") honoring his legacy. [1] After an eleven-year break, another "Julius Watkins Festival" was held on October 3, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, at Cornish College of the Arts. On September 29, 2012, the most recent (7th) Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
Julius watkins sextet
As leader/co-leader
With Charlie Rouse as Les Jazz Modes/The Jazz Modes
With Jazz Contemporaries (George Coleman, Clifford Jordan, Harold Mabern, Larry Ridley, Keno Duke)
As sideman
With Manny Albam
With Benny Bailey
With Art Blakey
With Kenny Burrell
With Billy Byers
With Donald Byrd
With John Coltrane
With Tadd Dameron
With Miles Davis
With Billy Eckstein
With Gil Evans
With Art Farmer
With Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Benny Golson
With Johnny Griffin
With Gigi Gryce
With Jimmy Heath
With Freddie Hubbard
With Milt Jackson
With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
With Quincy Jones
With Thad Jones and Mel Lewis
With Beverly Kenney
With Stan Kenton
With Roland Kirk
With Michel Legrand
With the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars
With Herbie Mann
With Cal Massey
With Mat Mathews
With Charles McPherson
With Gil Mellé
With Charles Mingus
With Blue Mitchell
With Thelonious Monk
With David Newman
With Oliver Nelson
With Chico O'Farrill
With Oscar Peterson
With Oscar Pettiford
With Johnny Richards
With the Riverside Jazz Stars
With Pete Rugolo
With Pharoah Sanders
With George Shearing
With Warren Smith
With Les Spann
With Billy Taylor
With Clark Terry
With McCoy Tyner
With Randy Weston
With Art Webb
With Mary Lou Williams
With Phil Woods