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Patrick Watson: Peter, The Wolf, And The New Orleans Bayou Ghosts

By Daniel Mège
February 7, 2026
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Is Patrick Watson a jazz musician? Lennie Tristano said that jazz is defined by feeling. Having seen Patrick Watson on stage in 2025 in Lausanne and 2026 in Winterthur, Switzerland, he definitely has it, plus very cool vibes. He deserves the title. Since its release, "Peter and the Wolf" from Uh Oh (Secret City Records, 2025) has been stuck in my head. I thought I should (try to) exorcise it here. It is a simple twelve bar melody with an almost conventional blues harmony, based on a true story. While walking at night through the streets of magical New Orleans and into a neighboring otherworldly and unsettling swamp, a bayou presumably... things happened!

I could hear that bass two blocks away
Blowing through the southern wind
And it got dark in the strangest way...

Contact Daniel Mège on All About Jazz.
Almost became a jazz musician, inadvertently ended up as a planetary scientist.

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