Ernie Watts
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| Ernie Watts | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ernest James Watts |
| Born | October 23, 1945 |
| Origin | Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Jazz, rhythm and blues |
| Occupation(s) | musician |
| Instrument(s) | saxophone, flute |
Ernie Watts (born Ernest James Watts on October 23, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone (tenor, alto and soprano) and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist. He has also toured with the Rolling Stones, joining them on their 1981 tour.
He is noted for playing the "The Mystery Horn" (actually a Conn straight necked C Melody Saxophone) solo on Frank Zappa's album The Grand Wazoo in 1972.
He began playing saxophone at thirteen and later attended the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship. He toured with Buddy Rich in the mid-1960s, occupying one of the tenor saxophone chairs, with Lou Marini occupying the other. Later, he visited Africa with Oliver Nelson's group. He began working with Haden in the 1980s and won Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist. Ernie also was also a featured soloist on many of Marvin Gaye's original albums on Motown during the 70's.
He first met Haden in relation to work he did for films. An early film effort was playing the saxophone on the Grease soundtrack. He also played clarinet on The Color Purple soundtrack and saxophone on the Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil soundtrack.[1]
Ernie Watts also was featured in the Windows XP edition Jazz preview. The song he was featured in was "Highway Blues".
[edit] Discography
- Let's Get It On 1973 - Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
- I Want You 1976 - Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
- Here My Dear 1977 - Marvin Gaye (Tamla)
- Inner conflicts 1978 - Billy Cobham (Atlantic)
- Words and music 1979 - Billy Alessi and Bobby Alessi (AM)
- Secret combination 1981 - Randy Crawford (WB)
- Long time friends 1982 - Billy and Bobby Alessi (QWest)
- Walk a fine line 1983 - Paul Anka (CBS)
- Time exposure 1984 - Stanley Clarke (CBS)
- Musician 1985 - Don Grusin (Qwest Records)
- Sanctuary 1986 - Quincy Jones (Qwest Records)
- The soul of jazz Vol. 2 1995 (Gitanes )
- The Art of the Song 1999 - Charlie Haden Quartet West
Charts : Notre monde à nous (Klaxon 1991)
[edit] External links
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