Jazz Articles about Bobby Watson

The Jazz Tribe: Everlasting

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 16, 2009

Il titolo del CD è un po' troppo pretenzioso, ma la musica proposta ha in sé l'irresistibile genoma del mainstream contemporaneo che dal bop di Parker ci porta fino all'afro-cuban jazz. Del gruppo originario venuto alla ribalta negli anni '90 rimane la triade Watson/Walrath/Mantilla, a tener in vita una formula rimasta immutata negli anni. Ma i temi non sono memorabili e lo stesso vale per il percorso proposto, in cui i soliti aromi latini vanno a colorire i ritmi del ...

Kind of Blue Turns 50: Bobby Watson Quartet at the Kimmel Center

by Victor L. Schermer
April 9, 2009

Bobby Watson QuartetJazz Up Close: Kind of Blue Turns 50Honoring Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane, SaxophonesKimmel Center Perelman TheaterPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaMarch 28, 2009The great Bobby Watson, still in “mid-life" at age 53, is a seasoned “heavy" on the alto sax whose playing echoes saxophone greats from Phil Woods to Cannonball Adderley, as well as tenor titans Dexter Gordon to Sonny Rollins, yet with his own incomparable virtuosity. Something must have been in ...

James Williams & Bobby Watson: Soulful Serendipity

by Francis Lo Kee
January 25, 2007

It would be enough just to comment on the wonderful music on this CD, recorded in the unique and encouraging setting of a June 2003 “house concert," yet it also must be noted that this is probably one of the last recordings of the great pianist James Williams, who passed away in July 2004 at the age of 52. The feelings throughout the record are warm, respectful (audience to musicians, musicians to each other), humorous, poignant; you ...

Bobby Watson & Horizon: Horizon Reassembled

by Russ Musto
March 26, 2005

Saxophonist Bobby Watson believes, like his former boss Art Blakey did, that making people feel good is “one of the vital functions of jazz. Horizon always made music that was extremely exciting, which made its demise after five major label releases (now all out of print) doubly disappointing. Horizon Reassembled picks up where the band left off more than ten years ago, with the same personnel, which has now achieved all-star status. Trumpeter Terrell Stafford, pianist Edward Simon, bassist Essiet ...

Bobby Watson & Horizon: Horizon Reassembled

by Jim Santella
July 3, 2004

With this reunion, Horizon weaves a cohesive web of sultry serenades that call out softly. Rhythmically adventurous and harmonically complex, they wrap their performance in comfortable tones and pleasant melodies. Front liners Bobby Watson and Terrell Stafford keep the session amiable, as they waft delicate solos fore and aft with fluid motion. Like a ship at sea, the band forms a cohesive unit that sways together with natural affinity.

An underlying love of the blues pervades. As ...

Bobby Watson and Horizon: Horizon Reassembled

by John Kelman
June 22, 2004

Bobby Watson is not a new name to the scene. With a résumé that includes tenure with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the early ‘80s, as well as various ensembles led by Wynton Marsalis, his robust alto sound has been well represented on over a hundred albums as a guest and nearly twenty-five recordings as a leader. But it is arguably with his mid-‘90s group, Horizon, where he made his most compelling statement. Ten years after the last recording with ...

Bobby Watson

by AAJ Staff
March 7, 2004

In 1977, quite a few eyebrows were raised when drummer Art Blakey, the nurturer of many jazz greats, started touting the country kid in overalls with the alto saxophone as his latest great discovery. Eyebrows remained up in amazement as Bobby Watson let loose with a Parkeresque run of notes. Watson's sweet, full tone evokes both memories of Johnny Hodges and the blues-tinged beauty of the church music Watson played as a child. Since those early days as a Jazz ...