Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts To Release Watts

  I  

Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts will release Watts, his fifth album as bandleader, on his own Dark Key Music label on Feb. 3, 2009. The album features a lineup of Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard and Christian McBride.

Along with the leader’s last name, the album’s title references the CD cover’s image of the Watts Towers, a symbol of the mid-‘60s Los Angeles race riots, and hometown of Charles Mingus.

“I started to write things for more than one lead voice and that kind of led me into doing a predominantly piano-less record,” Watts said. “I wanted to hear these musicians in that setting, with more room to roam. I was inspired by [the record] Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, that piano-less quartet. The more research I did, I just liked where he was coming from. I grew up during the civil rights movement. I remember the riots in Pittsburgh, in Watts, and around the country when I wasn’t even listening to jazz. I heard that feeling through the music of Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Hendrix and Sly Stone. Mingus’ pieces represented the jazz expression of a vibration that was going on in art, and the United States, in general.”

More info: tainish.com



  • Al_Foster_Marketing.jpg

    Foster was truly a drummer to the stars, including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson.

  • Branford_Marsalis_by_Mark_Sheldon_copy.jpg

    “Branford’s playing has steadily improved,” says younger brother Wynton Marsalis. “He’s just gotten more and more serious.”

  • Sasha_Berliner_by_Gulnara_Khamatova_copy.jpeg

    “What did I want more of when I was this age?” Sasha Berliner asks when she’s in her teaching mode.

  • unnamed.jpg

    Roscoe Mitchell will receive a Lifetime Achievement award at this year’s Vision Festival.

  • kZYVcIag_copy.jpg

    Benny Benack III and his quartet took the Midwest Jazz Collective’s route for a test run this spring.


On Sale Now
July 2025
Joe Satriani & Steve Vai
Look Inside
Subscribe
Print | Digital | iPad