Ernie Watts Quartet

Ernie Watts – born October 23, 1945 in Norfolk, Virginia – is a jazz and R&B saxophonist who has appeared on numerous hit R&B and rock albums while also maintaining a well-respected jazz career. He studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts before beginning his professional career as a musician. A tour with Buddy Rich and a twenty year stint as a member of the Tonight Show band paved the way for a career that touched many genres. He went on to work with a variety of artists outside of the jazz genre including Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Cher, Bob Seger, Frank Zappa, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, Boz Scaggs, and others. His career as a bandleader began in 1969 with the album Planet Love by an early line-up of the Ernie Watts Quartet. Over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he became an in-demand session man and focused on releasing a series of solo albums along the way. After playing with jazz bassist Charlie Haden’s 1986 album Quartet West, he was inspired to revisit his quartet roots and play music that was closer to his early influences like John Coltrane. He reformed a new version of his quartet and released the 1988 album Ernie Watts Quartet, which was rejigged and re-released three years later. After a 13 year break, he reactivated the quartet format for the 2004 release Alive, released on his own Flying Dolphin Records label. Further albums include Spirit Song (2005), Analog Man (2006), To the Point (2007), Oasis (2011), and Home Light (2018).

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