Jazz Articles about Jeff Tain Watts

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Tain & the Ebonix: Folk's Songs

by Michael P. Gladstone
July 20, 2007

This is the fifth solo album for Jeff “Tain" Watts and broadens his approach on this effort. The drummer has the distinction of reporting that he appeared on every Grammy-Award winning album by Wynton and Branford Marsalis. Originally from Pittsburgh and graduating with a degree in classical percussion from Desquesne University and the Berklee College of Music, Watts has become a well-known face from his appearances with the groups of Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis and the NBC Tonight Show Orchestra, ...

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Jeff "Tain" Watts: Dedication

by Jason Crane
June 28, 2007

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews drummer Jeff “Tain Watts. You might know him from his years with Wynton Marsalis, or his years with Branford Marsalis, or his stint as the drummer on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, or from his many, many recordings as a leader and sideman. Tain's new album is Folk's Songs (Dark Key Music, 2007). It features his band The Ebonix with Marcus Strickland on saxophone, David Kikoski on piano ...

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Tain & the Ebonix: Folk's Song

by Russ Musto
May 17, 2007

Jeff “Tain Watts, regarded by many as the most important drummer/leader of his generation, has also proven to be one of the more significant jazz composers to emerge in his time. On Folk's Songs, a date of (predominantly) original compositions dedicated to a diverse collection of artists (and one for the “citizens of earth ), he debuts his band the Ebonix, featuring Christian McBride (basses), Marcus Strickland (saxophones) and David Kikoski (piano and keyboards), with guest appearances by guitarist David ...

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Yosvany Terry Cabrera: Metamorphosis

by AAJ Staff
April 23, 2006

Intersections between Afro-Cuban music and jazz tend to be characteristically raw and visceral, drum-heavy and tilted toward bodily motion. This particular flavor of Latin jazz very rarely approaches the level of cosmopolitan integration, intellectual consistency and postmodern literacy that marks Metamorphosis. 34 year-old saxophonist Yosvany Terry Cabrera, who grew up in Camaguey, Cuba, wrote seven of the eight pieces on the record, for which he provides helpful background in the extended bilingual liner notes. His compositions effectively mirror his leadership, ...

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Yosvany Terry: Metamorphosis

by James Taylor
April 21, 2006

Yosvany Terry Cabrera has been turning heads in the New York jazz community since he arrived in the city in 1999. The Cuban-born musician's stateside debut will be the first introduction to this rising star for many, however. Metamorphosis is a stellar debut from a talented young saxophonist and master chekere player whose credentials speak for themselves and whose compositions are fresh and vibrant.Frequent collaborators Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Mike Moreno (guitars), Venezuelan-born Luis Perdoma (piano) and Dafnis Prieto ...

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Yosvany Terry Cabrera: Metamorphosis

by Matt Cibula
April 8, 2006

When I was a teenager in Oregon, I used to listen to lots of fusion and jazz-funk on a great radio station out of Portland. I didn't exactly go around telling anyone this, but I liked it just fine all the same. I felt a little better later, when all that stuff got sampled by hip-hop producers and I realized that there had been a lot of little Bob James nerds like me.

I say this because this album by ...

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Jeff "Tain" Watts: Detained at the Blue Note

by Russ Musto
December 22, 2004

On Detained at the Blue Note , Jeff “Tain" Watts' first live outing as a leader, the effusive drummer lets loose with one of the most unrestrained performances he's ever released. Watts' uninhibited style of drumming is best heard in the intimate club setting in which this disc was recorded. The outgoing Tain is inspired by the interaction with a live audience and the listeners respond in kind as the music escalates in intensity, delivering climax after climax to their ...