Greetings from Telluride Jazz and Ernie Watts

marty

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Apr 20, 2010
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I usually try to get to Telluride every summer, either during the Jazz Festival, Blues and Brews Festival, or the Film Festival. I just returned from the Jazz festival and wanted to share the extraordinary experience and my great pleasure at hearing a sax player I knew little about- Ernie Watts.

Folks, this guy absolutely blew my mind. Most folks probably have not had the opportunity to hear him live as he is basically an LA guy who doesn't tour much. That’s unfortunate. I have to tell you, I grew up on Coltrane and have heard them all, or at least I thought I did as I obviously was unfamiliar with Watts. Watts is a genuine virtuoso on tenor who is widely regarded as being among the very top of the best who every played the instrument. He has Coltrane plus chops, and can do anything from be-bop to straight ahead to progressive flawlessly. He can do any rhythm, any tempo, endless instrument range into the upper registers with power and finesse. Fast as hell when he wants to be, expressive when he wants to be. Simply put, he is the finest sax player I have ever seen in my lifetime. Check him out on wikipedia. Here is a small bio from the program.


"Handpicked as the Guest of Honor for the 39th Telluride Jazz Festival, saxophonist and flautist Ernie Watts has notched a five decade professional career with such benchmarks as being a member of Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, touring with the Rolling Stones, recording with Dizzy Gillespie, Marvin Gaye and Frank Zappa, playing under Doc Severinsen with The Tonight Show Band, and laying down horn lines on the Grease and The Color Purple soundtracks. Grammy Awards came from work with vocalist Kurt Elling and winning Best Pop Instrumental Performance for 1982 hit “Chariots Of Fire Theme.” With nearly two dozen albums as a bandleader, and countless more as a sideman for Jazz power players, Watts continues to educate, play, write, and record under his own independent record label Flying Dolphin. Accolades aside Watts likely sums it up best himself, “I see music as the common bond having potential to bring all people together in peace and harmony. All things in the physical world have vibration; the music I choose to play is the energy vibration that touches a common bond in people. I believe that music is God singing through us, an energy to be used for good.” He will be joined by Marc Seales on piano, Bruce Lett on acoustic bass, and Xavier Breaker on drums."


Drop dead genius playing is all I can say. I went up to him in the booth where he was signing CDs after his set and said "Holy crap man, you can fkn play!" (What can I say? It just came out!) Rather than look at me with a “where the hell have you been? I’ve been around for 50 years” look on his face, he just thanked me and smiled. A real gentleman to say the least. I also had the good fortune to sit next to his pianist (Marc Seales, Seattle based) on the plane from Montrose to Denver the next day as we headed home. He worships the guy. I said to him "I heard Coltrane do Giant Steps on vinyl when I was 14 and it changed my life. When you closed w Giant Steps and Ernie knocked it out of the park, I thought I was gonna die right then and there, a very happy man." He said it was unplanned and Ernie just decided to do it and everyone just hung on for dear life (they were all magnificent- first rate quartet). He said Ernie walks the straight and narrow and still practices every day! They guy is 70 and can blow harder, cleaner, faster, more creatively than any 40 year old player on the planet. Sadly, Seales told me Ernie plays in Europe for 3 mo out for the year, almost never gets to NYC, and tours infrequently. But if you love jazz and have the opportunity to see him, don’t miss him. He is a truly a living legend.

Check him out on this YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQkoybHJUeU

Thank you Ernie. Nothing has put a smile on my face the entire year like your playing did last Saturday.

Marty

PS Below is a pan video from Telluride. Many may recognize Wilson Peak (center of video at 5 sec) as it was featured on the Coors Beer can for many years.

[video=vimeo;135493475]https://vimeo.com/135493475[/video]
 
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Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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Check out the album John Mayall - Moving On. He's featured doing a solo on High Pressure Living.

 

LenWhite

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Feb 11, 2011
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systems.audiogon.com
The great Ernie Watts is on my Kurt Elling:Dedicated To You album. Great music. I'm going to listen a little harder to Ernie Watts in the album. Thanks.
 

marty

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Apr 20, 2010
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Ked
This one's for you.
To begin, since they basically stopped playing Jazz at the Telluride Jazz festival (mostly R&B and Gospel now as there's no money in Jazz festivals), I went to the Telluride Blues and Brews festival this year instead. Saw some mighty good acts (remember the name Samantha Fish- she can shred the guitar with the best of them). But thus far, the highlight was the set by Robert Plant last night.

robert-plant-web.jpg

It was a thrill to see this rock icon perform. Make no mistake, he can still sing and groove, but in his own words "who would have guessed that I'd be back in Telluride as a Blues singer"! But his abilities as a blues singer are formidable indeed. The musicians he surrounded himself with were first rate and the set was superb. Watching this legend perform was really something special since I never caught a Led Zeppelin show live (heavy metal was not my thing). He combined some classics by Leadbelly and Muddy Waters with some Zeppelin tunes ("from the vault" as he said) as well as tender acoustic material in a highly varied show that the audience loved. I felt honored to be able to see him perform at this level. No flies on this guy. Big "WOW" is all I can say.
 

bonzo75

Member Sponsor
Feb 26, 2014
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Wow awesome. Good to see he can still perform live. I never took to his non zep stuff, but guess like with them, when he hits the stage, the groove remains the same
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Thank you, Marty, for relating an amazing experience! If Ernie lives in LA we will try to find where he is scheduled to perform!
 

marty

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Thank you, Marty, for relating an amazing experience! If Ernie lives in LA we will try to find where he is scheduled to perform!

Ron
Ernie Watts lives in Seattle and RARELY tours in the US. If you have an opportunity to see him, don't miss him. He is one of the living greats. Looks like he's in your neck of the woods in October

OCTOBER 2018
• 20 - San Fernando Valley Arts & Cultural Ctr. / Tarzana, CA - Special Guest with Janis Mann
• 24-25 - San Diego State University /
San Diego,CA - Ernie Watts Guest soloist
 

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