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Jazz Articles about Jeff Tain Watts
Troy Roberts: Tales & Tones
by Geannine Reid
Saxophonist and composer Troy Roberts continues to present music that retains a distinctive strength and originality, still vastly rooted in tradition, while firmly grounded in new perspectives. Hailing from the remote location of Perth, West Australia, Roberts has received numerous awards including 3 consecutive DownBeat Jazz Soloist Awards, a Grammy Nomination medal, and was the only Australian semi-finalist in the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. Graduating with a Bachelor of Music at the young age of 19, he ...
Continue ReadingJeff "Tain" Watts Family Reunion Band at the Jazz Standard
by Tomas Pena
Jeff “Tain" Watts Family Reunion Band Jazz Standard New York, NY January 23, 2014 Sigmund Freud would have had a field day with Jeff “Tain" Watts' compositions. Case in point: “The Devil's Ringtone," where Watts conjures up an imaginary conversation between Satan and a corrupt politician. The tune features Paul Bollenback, whose electric guitar eerily captures the pleas of the politician, and Frank Lacey, whose growling trombone captures Satan's devilish reply. The tune ...
Continue ReadingDavid Gilmore: Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard
by Dan Bilawsky
Numbers and music are inextricably linked together. Numbers exist within every musical impulse and control the very nature of music through their connective ratios and relationships. This concept is explored to the fullest, without coming off as inaccessible “math music," on guitarist David Gilmore's Numerology: Live At Jazz Standard. Gilmore--not to be confused with Pink Floyd's guitar-wielding David Gilmour--has made a name for himself as a Berklee-based educator and go-to sideman, appearing on recordings with saxophonist Wayne ...
Continue ReadingJeff "Tain" Watts: Watts
by Terrell Kent Holmes
The title of drummer Jeff “Tain" Watts new CD, Watts, isn't as superficial as it seems. While referring naturally to the leader, it also recalls the site of the apocalyptic riots in 1965, a neighborhood that produced jazz legend Charles Mingus. This is important because the tunes on the disc, written by Watts, are reverential, referential and have a satirical edge that echoes some of Mingus' finest moments. This disc reteams Watts with his longtime partners in ...
Continue ReadingJeff "Tain" Watts: Watts
by Mark F. Turner
Noted for his distinct and propulsive style, the eminent drummer/composer Jeff “Tain" Watts is a longtime member of the Branford Marsalis quartet and a leading sideman for many artists; yet it's his own recordings as a leader that are the most telling. True to form, this eponymous release has plenty of the drummer's fireworks but also shows that the power of his pen is almost as mighty as his sticks, with compositions that contain humor, incredible swing, angular rhythms, and ...
Continue ReadingJeff "Tain" Watts: The Tain Self-Test
by Russ Musto
The most visible and exciting drummer of his generation, Jeff “Tain" Watts burst into the jazz spotlight in the early '80s as a member of Wynton Marsalis' first quintet and into the general public's eye in the role of Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee's film Mo' Better Blues (1990) and as a member of The Tonight Show band led by Branford Marsalis, in whose quartet he's drummed for over 25 years. Since leaving the world of television and returning to ...
Continue ReadingMcCoy Tyner: Quartet
by Jeff Stockton
It seems grossly unfair that the debonair, elegant elder statesman on the cover of Quartet, a document of the concerts McCoy Tyner and his band gave on Dec. 30th-31st, 2006 at Yoshi's in Oakland, would still be trying to live up to the reputation for excellence he established with the John Coltrane Quartet some forty-plus years ago. Perhaps tellingly, three of the seven selections come from The Real McCoy, the first solo album Tyner made for Blue Note in 1965. ...
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