Marc Seales & Ernie Watts at Jazz Alley

Marc Seales & Ernie Watts
Jazz Alley
Seattle, WA
January 20, 2026

The career paths of pianist Marc Seales and saxophonist Ernie Watts couldn't be more different. While Seales was becoming a local jazz stalwart in Seattle, the Los Angeles based Watts was making his way through studio sessions that included Frank Zappa's Grand Wazoo and a variety of Motown recordings. He toured with the Rolling Stones in 1981 and became a twenty year veteran of Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band. Seales would chart a musical legacy that is somewhat iconic in the Emerald City, eventually leading the jazz studies program at the University of Washington, becoming a tenured professor in the process. Watts re-dedicated himself to jazz in the mid-1980s, becoming a member of Charlie Haden's vaunted Quartet West. Seales would form the trio New Stories in the late 1990s with drummer John Bishop and bassist Doug Miller that would gain a reputation for backing local and national artists, as well as operating as a first rate jazz piano trio on their own. 

In the summer of 1999, Watts and Seales hit the studio together, producing Speaking Out (Origin,1999), a New Stories record that featured Watts on tenor. One of the album's tracks, "Highway Blues," would gain unusual notoriety as the default sample music file in Microsoft Windows XP. Nonetheless, the session formed a friendship and musical alliance between Seales and Watts that endures to this day. And so, for two nights in January of 2026, the duo arrived onstage at Seattle's historic Jazz Alley, to celebrate the release of yet another recording, People and Places (Origin, 2025), joined by the Los Angeles based back line of bassist Bruce Lett and drummer Moyse Lucas. 

In trying to pinpoint what it is that seems to make Seales and Watts a fluid musical entity, the only salient quality one could possibly come up with is simply the blues. Seales' playing has always had a lyrical, modern quality to it, that is rooted deeply in the blues, while Watt's tenor sound, whether playing sweet, melodic passages or grinding soulfully deep has always arrived at a similar place. When Seales began the evening with a long piano intro, those qualities rose subtly to the surface, prefacing the harmonic and melodic elements that would dominate the ninety minute set. The ascension into Seales' classic tune, "Rue Cler" found Watts tip-toeing into the melody quietly, marked by a lovely vibrato accentuating each line. It didn't take long to notice that the now eighty year old Watts still had masterful control of the full range of his instrument, blending perfectly with Seales' playful mastery of his own. Whether playing acoustic piano, or one of his racked electric keyboards, Seales played with noticeable joy, with Watts often facing him while playing as if the two were engaged in a meaningful and loving conversation between two old friends. 

"The Shorter Way" employs compositional devices utilized by the master Wayne Shorter, a new piece Seales remarked would be on the "next album," indicating there is no quit in this partnership. Backed by the solid playing of Lett and Lucas, Watts brought the fire from his tenor that has been a trademark for nearly sixty years. He has a way of rising up from the harmonic kindling of his mates to burn brightly, only to simmer in the ashes of his efforts, allowing the sweetness of his partner's fluid, bluesy offerings to take prominence. "For You My Dear" found the band in a more laid back, melancholic vibe, with Seales utilizing electric keyboards to produce an orchestral feel, while adding melodic fragments on piano. Watts' mastery included sublime altissimo control, with the ability to venture into romantic melodic phrasing in that scorching range. 

The set received an up-tempo jolt diving into Shorter's "Palladium," with Seales blending electronics with the purity of his modern approach to jazz piano. Seales' "Muddy Chicago Blues" was like a snapshot of the hustle and bustle of the Windy City's west side, Preceded by a saxophone and bass interlude, the snappy blues piece sent a clear message that these four veterans of the jazz stage were just plain having fun, enjoying the fellowship of the conversation beyond any realm of entertainment value. Thirty years into their musical partnership, a true friendship and the love that arises from that was communicated clearly to the audience on no uncertain terms. The Jazz Alley audience to that point was appreciative, yet somewhat subdued, almost complacent in their deep satisfaction with the mastery they were witnessing. After that needed jolt of sonic energy, the band finished the set with the beautiful Watts / Seales composition, "Homelight." The piece seemed to be the perfect counterbalance to the overall arc of energy provided by the memorable set—the first of a two night run, and apparently, of a true partnership that will continue to evolve into the future. 

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