BOBBY WATSON ?

[jeffsjazz]

Anyone have any thoughts on alto phenom Bobby Watson.The guy led the Messengers for several years,is a prolific writer,a sound to die for,tecnique out the a**,and a hell of a nice guy.

So why isn't he more famous? He has a sizeable catalogue as leader (great Blue Notes,Columbias, Red records) and sideman.

What are some your favorite Watson recordings? A BW fan.

[Free For All]

He is a very nice guy and a great player. Seems to me he's pretty famous already- I think I see his picture or read about an appearance in about every jazz rag I see. I work with him at UMKC where he runs the jazz studies program. He is a prolific writer and maintains a very busy touring schedule.

I probably like the Red Records recordings most.

[jazzmessenger]

I love his music. I like his earlier recordings on Red Records, followed by Columbia Records. You also got listened to some of Concord recordings he did as Jazz Messengers. They are all fantastic!

[sidewinder]

I'm a big fan of Bobby ! Try to get hold of his couple of Blue Note releases - long OOP. 'The Inventor' and 'Post-Motown Bop', both dating from the late 80s/early 90s. There's also a third who's title eludes me for the moment ('No Question About It', I think). All 3 are excellent. Potential Mosaic Select material IMO.

The past times I have seen Bobby and his band Horizon in clubs (with the equally fine Victor Lewis as co-lead) he has always given a superb and very tight performance. A great technician and showman with a very engaging and friendly manner with the audience. Blakey chose well yet again..

Edited June 11, 2005 by sidewinder

[Dan Gould]

This thread gives me a reason to mention that I finally got a chance to listen to his newest CD:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dr...g38226d6i1l.jpg

And its a doozy, as was discussed here when it first came out (For shame, I've had this since Christmas and only gave it a listen in the last month or so).

[Rosco]

  Free For All said:

He is a very nice guy and a great player. Seems to me he's pretty famous already- I think I see his picture or read about an appearance in about every jazz rag I see.  I work with him at UMKC where he runs the jazz studies program. He is a prolific writer and maintains a very busy touring schedule.

I probably like the Red Records recordings most.

←

'Love Remains' is a beaut!

[Rosco]

  jeffsjazz said:

Anyone have any thoughts on alto phenom Bobby Watson.The guy led the Messengers for several years,is a prolific writer,a sound to die for,tecnique out the a**,and a hell of a nice guy.

←

So THAT's where your technique comes out! I've been playing saxophone wrong all these years!

[Alon Marcus]

I enjoy listening to Watson very much though familiar mostly with his work as sideman for others. One of the best places to hear him play is John Hicks NAIMA'S LOVE SONG.

[JohnS]

I'd certainly add my recommendation to Bobby's Blue Note cds.

[Brad]

I've only got a couple but both winners: Advance (Enja) and Year of the Rabbit (Evidence)

[montg]

I've got both CDs he made for Palmetto--both are winners. 'Horizon Reassembled' is one of my favorite recordings, period. 'Lemoncello', 'Dark Days' (really soulful), 'Love remains'...some excellent songs on that CD. I need to check out some of his earlier work.

'Free for All'--since you work with him, do you happen to know if any new recordings are in the works?

[sal]

Check out the disk by guitarist Mark Kleinhaut that came out last year called "Balance of Light". A beautiful disc with one of Bobby's best recorded performances IMO.

[HutchFan]

Thought I'd bump this twelve-year-old thread because I've been wondering about one of Bobby Watson's early recordings on Roulette.

Is anyone familiar with All Because of You (1978)?  

I really enjoy Bobby work with Blakey from around this time, so I was looking for some input as to whether I should investigate this LP too.

[jeffsjazz]

Have never seen this one and I have most of Bobby's cds,I will look

 for it.

Thanks

[sonnymax]

I don't believe either of his two albums on Roulette (E.T.A. being the other title) have ever been reissued on CD. His solo release "This Little Light Of Mine" is not to be missed.

[HutchFan]

Well, I just ordered All Because of You from Dusty Groove.

After the LP arrives and I have a chance to give it a few spins, I'll report back.

[Rooster_Ties]

  On 7/9/2016 at 5:12 AM, sonnymax said:

I don't believe either of his two albums on Roulette (E.T.A. being the other title) have ever been reissued on CD. 

Expand  

I just picked up his debut "ETA" on LP a couple weeks ago (by "Robert Watson", BTW).

An excellent album, highly recommended!!

Edited July 10, 2016 by Rooster_Ties

[sgcim]

  On 6/12/2005 at 7:22 AM, Alon Marcus said:

I enjoy listening to Watson very much though familiar mostly with his work as sideman for others. One of the best places to hear him play is John Hicks NAIMA'S LOVE SONG.

Expand  

WKCR just played this Hicks LP. I can't imagine it getting much better than this. Watson, Hicks and crew are on fire!

[Rooster_Ties]

  On 7/10/2016 at 2:33 AM, Rooster_Ties said:

I just picked up his debut "ETA" on LP a couple weeks ago (by "Robert Watson", BTW).

An excellent album, highly recommended!!

Expand  

Quoting myself (from 2 years ago), as on Saturday I just picked up a $3 mint promo copy of Bobby's second leader-date: All Because of You (1979).

I liked ETA (his first for Roulette) slightly better - because it's a little bigger band, and a little more adventurous arranging -- but this, his second ever leader-date (also for Roulette), is nearly as good.

I'd GLADLY buy both these Roulette dates on CD, if I had the chance.  Haven't checked, but maybe they'd even both fit on one CD - ?  Just checked, and ETA is 45:43, but ABoY is only 35:46 -- so if you could trim even just 60 seconds, both would fit on one disc.  Some would call that a crime, but there are worse crimes.

They're both solid albums, but I'll admit that part of it is they sound a little dated (in a good way), not entirely dripping in a certain "70's sound" -- but they both do have a bit of that quality to them.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Rooster_Ties

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I just saw Bobby last week when he played with Ralph Peterson's Messenger Legacy band and he is still playing great. It still messes me up a bit how old he looks these days but then I look in a mirror and... well, I guess he doesn't look too old.

BTW - don't miss his latest recording, "Made In America", on Smoke Sessions, one of my current favorite record labels.

[BFrank]

I saw him a number of times with the Messengers. One of the more under-rated editions IMO, too: Bobby Watson, Valeri Ponomarev, David Schnitter, James Williams and Dennis Irwin.

[JSngry]

That was the overalls band, right?

[felser]

  On 10/16/2018 at 11:55 PM, JSngry said:

That was the overalls band, right?

Expand  

Yep.  Watson did some great writing for that group - "Time Will Tell", "Wheel Within a Wheel", etc. 

  On 6/11/2005 at 11:44 PM, Rosco said:

 

 

 

'Love Remains' is a beaut!

Expand  

Edited October 17, 2018 by felser

[JSngry]

and then wynnton said hey art we gonna clean this shit up and dress right again, and they did. but really, a lot of good that did, wisnton got rich and blakey died and here we are now, not yet dead.\ nor yet rich (although some might be?).

So fuck wennleton, I guess that's the moral of the story.

[felser]

  On 10/17/2018 at 12:27 AM, JSngry said:

and then wynnton said hey art we gonna clean this shit up and dress right again, and they did. but really, a lot of good that did, wisnton got rich and blakey died and here we are now, not yet dead.\ nor yet rich (although some might be?).

So fuck wennleton, I guess that's the moral of the story.

Expand  

Well, Wynton was like 18 when he joined that  band and did some great trumpet playing with them before he saw the $$$, er, I mean, light.  The semi-bootleg "Live at Bubba's" trilogy is freakin' fantastic, and this one pretty well lives up to its title.  BTW, I'm neither dead nor rich,  though I'm also not undead or poor either.

Edited October 17, 2018 by felser