Sylmar, CA
Ernie Watts was handed a saxophone at age 13 by his school music department in Wilmington Delaware, and his life was forever changed. He started learning classical music, as his school had no jazz classes. But when he was 14, his Mother joined the Columbia Record Club for him, and he got his first jazz record in 1959--it was Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, and Ernie heard John Coltrane, who would become his muse, for the first time. He says, "It was as if someone put my hand into a light socket." At 16 he was a featured soloist with the Delaware Symphony, but teaching himself jazz by ear.
After high school he won a scholarship in saxophone to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. While there, Buddy Rich's band came to Boston on tour, and their alto saxophonist quit. They called Berklee and asked for a bright kid to sit in until New York, and Ernie went on the road with them. After New York, he was still there, and did 2 years with the band, made 3 records with them, and toured the world, ending up in LA for a 13-week summer replacement TV show. He moved there in 1968, and got session calls in the big studios--for 41 years. He worked with the big bands of Gerald Wilson, Louie Bellson, and Oliver Nelson, TV shows (the Johnny Carson Tonight Show band led by Doc Severinsen for 20 years), films (The Fabulous Baker Boys, The Color Purple) with composers Dave Grusin, Lalo Schifrin, Henry Mancini, and Elmer Bernstein, albums for pop artists like Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind and Fire, all the Motown artists, and even Thelonius Monk (Monk's Blues). His two Grammys were for albums produced by Quincy Jones.
When Charlie Haden asked Ernie to play in his new group Quartet West in 1985, he was inspired to switch over to live jazz as his primary focus. It had always been his interior goal. He began with Haden, and also toured with Pat Metheny's Special Quartet in Brazil and Japan. By 2009 he had worked with Kurt Elling, Billy Cobham, Lee Ritenour, Diane Schuur, Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, Gene Harris, Clark Terry, J.J Johnson, and many others.
In 2014, Ernie won the Frankfurt Music Prize for excellence in composition and performance, a prestigious honor from Germany. In over 30 years, only 6 jazz players had ever been selected. The American Ambassador came to the ceremony. In 2015 he was named Guest of Honor at the Telluride Jazz Festival, playing on the Ernie Watts Stage with his own US Quartet.
Ernie plays original music of his, those whom he admires, and jazz classics. He also does Masterclasses and student concerts at colleges and universities--at one of which he met Patrice Rushen and Ndugu Chancler when they were students. He now works with Patrice in a group named Jazz Classics.
Ernie Watts believes music has the power to connect all people in peace and harmony.
Thursday, January 5, 2023
9:00 AM – 9:50 AM US EST
Thursday, January 5, 2023
10:15 PM – 11:00 PM US EST