Doug Watkins

[Chuck Nessa]

Watkins and Teddy Kotick were THE new bassists in the first half of the '50s. I would have a tough time picking a favorite. All this was upset buy the popularity and high profile of Paul Chambers in the last half of the '50s.

[king ubu]

Didn't Ray Brown's JAZZ CELLO get reissued a couple of years ago?

Yes, in the Verve LPR series.

A nice one, but the Verve Elite reissue of "Bass Hit!" is a much better album!

Chuck, that's interesting - Kotick has a pretty low profile nowaways... of course he pops up on quite a few albums, but I wouldn't have thought him to create lot of stir.

How about Wendell Marshall or others like George Duvivier, Joe Benjamin?

[mikeweil]

George Duvivier was a monster bassist! I find myself buying albums just for him. Big sound, tremendous drive - one of the greatest!

Kotick was great, too - very underrated.

Wendell Marshall played Jimmy Blanton's bass fiddle - another underrated player.

Agree about Ray Brown's Bass Hit album as compared to Jazz Cello!

[soulpope]

On 31.7.2007 at 10:56 AM, mikeweil said:

George Duvivier was a monster bassist! I find myself buying albums just for him. Big sound, tremendous drive - one of the greatest!

Wendell Marshall played Jimmy Blanton's bass fiddle - another underrated player.

Was thinking about Douglas Watkins and stumbled overy this old thread - have to fully agree on Mike's assessment reg. both George Duvivier and Wendell Marshall  - so I'm not the only one obtaining records based on Duvivier's participation  ....

[mikeweil]

Cetainly not! 

Nice you mention Watkins - another one with a great, big, but at the same time very clear sound - too bad his life was so short.

[Peter Friedman]

Way back in the late 1950's I was stationed in Germany with the US Army. Went to Paris on a leave. Though the details are rather fuzzy after all those years, I went to club to hear the Donald Byrd Quintet with Bobby Jaspar, Walter Davis Jr.,Doug Watkins, and (I think?) Art Taylor. My home was Detroit and I had seen / heard Doug Watkins a number of times before he left to go to New York. Between sets at the club in Paris I sat with Doug Watkins and we had a good talk. Unfortunately I have no recollection of what we talked about. 

The music was very good that evening, and it is one of those many special musical evenings that I recall with affection. I also agree with this who have said they prefer Watkins to Paul Chambers. Chambers was certainly a fine bass player, but his frequent and sometimes lengthy arco solos were not really my cup of tea. 

 

 

[Bluesnik]

And he was a reputed sound engineer too, who recorded many bop or early 50s sessions for Blue Note at the WOR studios in NYC before Rudy Van Gelder.

[Homefromtheforest]

2 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Way back in the late 1950's I was stationed in Germany with the US Army. Went to Paris on a leave. Though the details are rather fuzzy after all those years, I went to club to hear the Donald Byrd Quintet with Bobby Jaspar, Walter Davis Jr.,Doug Watkins, and (I think?) Art Taylor. My home was Detroit and I had seen / heard Doug Watkins a number of times before he left to go to New York. Between sets at the club in Paris I sat with Doug Watkins and we had a good talk. Unfortunately I have no recollection of what we talked about. 

The music was very good that evening, and it is one of those many special musical evenings that I recall with affection. I also agree with this who have said they prefer Watkins to Paul Chambers. Chambers was certainly a fine bass player, but his frequent and sometimes lengthy arco solos were not really my cup of tea. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing.  Just last week I picked up the signature LP featuring this same very band!

[mikeweil]

[mikeweil]

[Larry Kart]

4 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

And he was a reputed sound engineer too, who recorded many bop or early 50s sessions for Blue Note at the WOR studios in NYC before Rudy Van Gelder.

No, that was Doug Hawkins. In 1950-3, Watkins probably was still in high school in Detroit. The credit to "Doug Watkins" as engineer of "Howard McGhee Vol. 2" is a typo. See Vol. 1. 

[Bluesnik]

Sorry, then. I always assumed they were the same person.

[soulpope]

On 2.8.2016 at 9:29 PM, mikeweil said:

!!!