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Trevor Watts
Trevor Watts on soprano at Eddie's Attic, Decatur GA, photo by Shawn Vinson
Trevor Watts on soprano at Eddie's Attic, Decatur GA, photo by Shawn Vinson
Background information
Birth nameTrevor Charles Watts
Born (1939-02-26) 26 February 1939 (age 85)
OriginYork, England
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Saxophonist
Instrument(s)Alto saxophone, Soprano saxophone

Trevor Charles Watts (born 26 February 1939)[1] is an English jazz and free-improvising alto and soprano saxophonist.

Biography

Watts was born in York, England.[1] He is largely self-taught, having taken up the cornet at age 12 then switched to saxophone at 18.[1] While stationed in Germany with the RAF (1958–63), he encountered the drummer John Stevens and trombonist Paul Rutherford. After being demobbed he returned to London. In 1965, he and Stevens formed the Spontaneous Music Ensemble,[1] which became one of the crucibles of British free improvisation. Watts left the band to form his own group Amalgam in 1967, then returned to SME for another stretch that lasted until the mid-1970s.[1] Another key association was with the bassist Barry Guy and his London Jazz Composers' Orchestra, an association that lasted from the band's inception in the 1970s up to its disbandment in the mid-1990s.

Though he was initially strongly identified with the avant-garde, Watts is a versatile musician who has worked in everything from straight jazz contexts to rock and blues. His own projects have come increasingly to focus on blending jazz and African music, notably the Moiré Music ensemble which he has led since 1982 in configurations ranging from large ensembles featuring multiple drummers to more intimate trios. He has only occasionally recorded in freer modes in recent years, notably the CD 6 Dialogues, a duet album with Veryan Weston (the pianist in earlier editions of Moiré Music). A solo album, World Sonic, appeared on Hi4Head Records in 2005.

Watts has toured the world over numerous times, run workshops, received grants and commissions, and he has collaborated with jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Steve Lacy, Don Cherry, Jayne Cortez and Stephen Grew. As of 2011, he continues to travel and has been touring Europe and North America with Veryan Weston and more recently, with the addition of percussionist/singer Jamie Harris as Eternal Triangle.

Selected discography

With Barry Guy/The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra

With Harry Miller

With Paul Rutherford and Iskra 1912

With the Spontaneous Music Ensemble

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 419. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.

External links

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