Jazz Articles

Ernie Watts Quartet: Wheel of Time

by Jack Bowers
April 6, 2016

On the Buddy Rich band's album Big Swing Face (circa 1967), Ernie Watts unleashes a blazing alto sax solo on the title track that is guaranteed to send chills up and down the spine and leave listeners wondering, “How did he do that?" Now, almost half a century later, the seventy-year-old Watts continues to weave those mind-bending solos, this time on tenor sax, on Wheel of Time, a quartet date whose nine selections include four written by the leader himself ...

Ernie Watts: A Simple Truth

by Edward Blanco
September 19, 2014

After sixteen albums as leader, two-time Grammy-Award-winning saxophonist Ernie Watts presents a concept album, a journey of sorts, a musical description of a “jazz day" beginning with a morning piece and ending with an evening song in declaration of A Simple Truth. Recorded in Cologne, Germany, with his touring European quartet--together for over fifteen years--Watts imagines the music as being “basics that connects people, going right past language, ethnicity, culture and even history, into direct feeling," which is the simple ...

Ernie Watts: A Simple Truth

by Ian Patterson
May 30, 2014

The title of Ernie Watt's seventh release on his Flying Dolphin label reflects the tenor great's guiding philosophy, as he explained in a recent interview for dublinjazz.ie: “We are creating our reality all day every day by the thoughts that we think and by the things that we say and by our belief systems. It's a very clear and simple path." For Watts, this path has translated, on average, into two hours practice virtually every day for the past fifty ...

Ernie Watts Quartet: Oasis

by Ian Patterson
November 18, 2011

Setting up Flying Dolphin Records in 2004 has given tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts wings. After 35 years calling on an ever-changing array of some of the greatest names in jazz to play on his records, Watts has now settled into two quartets: his American and European groups. The continuity of these ensembles and the complete artistic freedom that he's wrestled free have resulted in some of his strongest recordings. Four Plus Four (Flying Dolphin Records, 2009), To the Point-Live at ...

Ernie Watts: To The Point - Live at the Jazz Bakery

by Andrew Velez
January 20, 2009

Recorded live at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, To The Point is the first non-studio recording of Ernie Watts' longtime quartet. Together for over 20 years, they have a cohesion and musical empathy that is palpable. The musically eclectic Watts has toured with The Rolling Stones and played in settings from Carmen McRae to Jean-Luc Ponty. A Grammy winner for his performance on the soundtrack of Chariots of Fire (1981), Watts is best known for his work with bassist ...

Ernie Watts: To the Point - Live at the Jazz Bakery

by Nicholas F. Mondello
November 13, 2008

Ernie WattsTo The Point - Live At The Jazz BakeryFlying Dolphin Records2008

After hearing saxophonist Ernie Watts' CD To The Point - Live At The Jazz Bakey , it's easy to imagine that he possesses superhuman talents similar to those held by members of the fictional Fantastic Four. He breathes fire, can cool with ice, whip up a storm, and shape his sax sound in ways otherworldly. This is a powerful, yet ...

Ernie Watts Quartet: Analog Man

by Ian Patterson
July 6, 2007

The opening two-note piano riff, the crisp rim shots from the drums and the walking bass line on the opening number and title track get Analog Man off to the most swinging of starts. Saxophonist Ernie Watts introduces the melody and proceeds to craft a solo so full of invention, strength and lyricism that when he lays out to allow pianist Christof Saenger his turn the surprise is that only three minutes have passed.

Watts' playing on “Analog ...