Jeff "Tain" Watts

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WATTS released Feb 3rd 2008

Jeff "Tain" Watts - Terence Blanchard
Branford Marsalis - Christian McBride

 
Download the Press Release - pdf

Download Jeff "Tain" Watts' bio - pdf



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Jeff Tain Watts 4

Jeff "Tain" Watts - drums
Jean Toussaint - saxophones
David Kikoski - piano
James Genus - double bas
s
 

Jean Toussaint - Saxophones

From a calypso band in his teens in St Thomas, Toussaint moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music where fellow students included Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby, and Jeff Watts.

In 1982, he joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. 'I learned more in four years with Art than I'd have learned in ten had I not got through that audition,' says Toussaint, who played alongside Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Lonnie Plaxico. While in New York, Toussaint also worked with Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner and Gil Evans, and regularly led the jam session at New York's Blue Note club. Touring with the Messengers, he always looked forward to London where he made friends amongst the capital's young musicians. 'I met Cleveland and Trevor Watkiss, Steve Williamson and Julian Joseph. Being of Caribbean descent myself, I saw similarities in the blend of musical influences - jazz, African, calypso and reggae.

In 1987, Toussaint accepted an invitation from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to teach improvisation for three months. He's still there. From London, Toussaint works extensively in Europe and the US with his bands: Nazaire and the Jean Toussaint Quartet.




James Genus - Acoustic Bass

A native of Virginia, a versatile and in demand bassist, James has performed with many greats including Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Branford Marsalis. James is also the bassist for the Saturday Night Live band.





David Kikoski - Piano

David Kikoski continues to foster his individualistic voice while exploring a wide variety of opportunities both as a leader and sideman. He especially wants to emphasize his compositions, further develop opportunities to perform with his own groups, and write for films. An affecting modernist, Kikoski distills the best in jazz and popular music and infuses every song with attention-getting brilliance.
DAVIDKIKOSKI.COM








Jeff Tain Watts Quartet recent performances:
New Morning, Paris
The Village Vanguard, NY
Jazz Cafe, London
The Cotton Club, Tokyo
The Jazz Standard, NY
The Bimhuis, Amsterdam
Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Scotland
The Blue Note, NY
Queen Elizabeth Hall, NY
Detroit Institute of the Arts
Detroit Music Hall
The Triple Door, Seattle
Yoshi's, Oakland
Le Club, Russia
Joe's Pub, NYC
Blues Alley, Washington D.C.
Dakota, Minneapolis



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Reviews

Drummer Watts propels impressive quartet

By Dan Emmerson, Minneapolis,  Minnesota. July  19 2006.

Even though drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts has spent much of his career in a supporting role to more high-profile musicians — such as brothers Wynton and Branford Marsalis — his unique, post-bop percussion style has often drawn the spotlight his way.

But, leading his quartet in the first of a two-night stand Tuesday at the Dakota Jazz club, the former Tonight Show drummer still demonstrated that he may make his greatest contributions by complementing and bringing out the best in the other musicians onstage.

Watts opened the early set with his clever re-arrangement of Icelandic singer/songwriter Bjork's minor-key tune "107 Steps." The piece showed how much harmonic complexity a savvy arranger could build out of the bare-bones structure of a simple pop tune.

The star soloist of Watts' current group is young tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, who showed why he is one of the most highly regarded saxmen of his generation. Strickland is accustomed to backing adventurous drummers, having recently completed an extended stint with ageless drum wizard Roy Haynes.

On the opening tune, Strickland blew an extended solo that was evoked the late, great John Coltrane in its tonal range, complexity and fluidity. Then Watts led the combo through "Lings Lope" an as-yet unrecorded piece he wrote for sometime band-boss Branford Marsalis. The tune included some quirky spaces and abrupt stops that recalled the composing style of the great Thelonious Monk; Strickland's tenor tone also recalled that of longtime Monk sideman Charlie Rouse.

Watts propelled the swinging tune with his usual verve, accenting the backbeat with some crisp rimshots, one drumstick laid flat atop the snare drumhead.

Watts' group also includes another member of Branford Marsalis' combo, acoustic bassist Eric Revis, whose rhythmic synchronicity with Watts is undoubtedly the product of many nights together on the bandstand.

Watts' quartet includes his latest "discovery" — 20-something pianist Lawrence Fields, whose expansive soloing showed the influence of mid-'60s Herbie Hancock and later McCoy Tyner, but still contained some surprises.

On the next Watts composition, a tribute to Stevie Wonder called "Stevie in Rio," Fields used a synthesizer to emulate Wonder's trademark harmonica sound, while playing chords on the grand piano with his left hand.

Strickland switched to soprano sax and showed an impressive mastery of the challenging, straight horn, maintaining a flawless, smooth tone even while soaring into the upper register.

Watts used a pair of mallets to launch the spiritual, Coltrane-like "Attainment," hammering out some low tones on his snare and bass drum. Bassist Revis used a bow to add some unusual, cello-like tone colors to the mix.

The set closed with Watts' instrumental ode to distilled intoxicants, "Vodville." As he did throughout the set, the fun-loving Watts impressed with his ability to hammer out drum thwacks and cymbal taps that not only answered but often echoed the phrasing and notes being played by the horn and piano soloists. It was a reminder that one of the requisite skills for any top-flight jazz musician is being a great, untiring listener.



Earshot Jazz Festival, Triple Door, Seattle.
Tuesday November 1st, 2005

The Modern drum titan leads a thrilling quartet. For 20 years a drummers' drummer, Jeff "Tain" Watts came to prominence through his stellar early collaboration with saxophonist Branford Marsalis, which bristled with intense interplay and in which it was not always clear who was in charge, so provocative was the hypertalented percussionist.  His work with his own band, including on his on last year's Detained at the Blue Note, a live record, have revealed that he has the compositional talent and sense to drive a whole band to great heights, too. Combining muscle and finesse, Watts is a startling technician with an uncanny ability to parse out time and reconfigure it to great effect, always driving the music and his bandmates forward. He has explosive power, blinding speed, and mastery of percussion complexity, but he also plays with delight, wit, elegance and composure. The style of his composing is straight ahead, in-the-pocket, and informed by his great love for John Coltrane, and many other of the jazz greats, and the great jazz drummers.