The Columbia University Big Band with Alto Saxophonist Bobby Watson
Columbia University Big Band in Concert with special guest Bobby Watson
Directed by Don Sickler
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Also featuring performances by Columbia University small jazz ensembles. Sponsored by the Louis Armstrong Jazz Performance Program, the Center for Jazz Studies, and the Columbia University Music Performance Program
A saxophonist, composer, producer and educator, Bobby Watson grew up
in Kansas City, Kansas. He trained formally at the University of
Miami, a school with a distinguished and well-respected jazz program.
After graduating, he proceeded to earn his doctorate on the bandstand
-- as musical director of Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers. The group,
created in 1955 by late drummer, who died in 1990, showcased a
rotating cast who eventually became consistent members of a who's who
of modern jazz. The Jazz Messengers, sometimes referred to as the
University of Blakey, served as the ultimate postgraduate school for
ambitious young players.
After completing his tenure as a Jazz Messenger (1977-1981), the
gifted Watson became a much-sought after musician, working along the
way with a potpourri of notable musicians, peers, elder statesmen and
colleagues including, but not limited to: drummers Max Roach and Louis
Hayes, fellow saxophonists George Coleman and Branford Marsalis,
celebrated multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and trumpeter Wynton
Marsalis who joined the Jazz Messengers at least in part at the
suggestion of Watson. In addition to working with a variety of
instrumentalists, Watson has served in a supporting roll for a number
of distinguished and stylistically varied vocalists including: Joe
Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Carmen Lundy.
Later, in association with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor
Lewis, Watson launched the first edition of Horizon, an acoustic
quintet modeled in many ways after the Jazz Messengers but one with
its own distinct slightly more modern twist. Horizon is now considered
one of the preeminent small groups of the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. The
group recorded several titles for the Blue Note and Columbia record
labels.
In addition to his work as leader of Horizon, Watson also led a group
known as the High court of Swing (a tribute to the music of Johnny
Hodges), The Grammy nominated Tailor-Made Big Band (16 pieces in all)
and is a founding member of the highly acclaimed 29th Street Saxophone
Quartet, an all-horn, four-piece group. Watson also wrote original
music for the sound track of Robert DeNiros directorial debut A Bronx
Tale.
All told, Bobby Watson, the immensely talented and now seasoned
veteran has some 26 recordings as a leader. He appears on close to 100
other recordings as either co-leader or in a supporting role for other
like-minded musicians. Watson has recorded more than 100 original
compositions and his long-time publisher, Second Floor Music,
publishes many of his original combo and big band arrangements that
circulate and are interpreted on an international scope by others.
Bobbys classic 1986 Red Records release, Love Remains has long been
recognized by the Penguin Guide to Jazz with its highest rating and in
the Penguin Guides seventh edition, it was identified as a part of its
core collection, i.e. a must-have for any jazz aficionado along with
other jazz masters such as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Thelonius
Monk, Duke Ellington and others. His latest project, Horizon
Reassembled, was recorded for the Palmetto label; shortly after its
June 2004 release, the release went to number one on the national jazz
airplay chart.
Known as a tireless worker, a team player and a consummate musician,
Bobby Watson has been a first-call musician for nearly three decades.
A resident of New York for most of his professional life, Bobby served
as a member of the adjunct faculty and taught private saxophone at
William Patterson University from 1985-1986 and Manhattan School of
Music from 1996-1999. He is currently involved with the highly
acclaimed Thelonious Monk Institute's yearly Jazz in America high
school outreach program.
In 2000, he was approached to return to his native midwestern
surroundings on the Kansas-Missouri border. Watson accepted the
challenge and subsequently that same year he was selected as the first
William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri, Distinguished Professorship in
Jazz Studies. The past six years he has served as the director of jazz
studies at the University of Missouri/Kansas City, Conservatory of
Music although he still manages to balance live engagements throughout
the world with his teaching responsibilities.
- from http://www.bobbywatson.com/
