Jeff "Tain" Watts

Jeff "Tain" Watts - © www.edkeane.com

born on 20/1/1960 in Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Jeff "Tain" Watts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jeff "Tain" Watts (born January 20, 1960) is a jazz drummer who has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Betty Carter, Michael Brecker, Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, Troy Roberts and others. Jeff is a 2017 Guggenheim Fellow in the field of music composition.

Biography

Jeff "Tain" Watts holds the unique distinction of being the only musician to appear on every Grammy Award-winning jazz record by both Wynton and Branford Marsalis.

He got the nickname "Tain" from Kenny Kirkland when they were on tour in Florida and drove past a Chieftain gas station.[1]

Watts has worked in the film and television industry as both a musician on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for three years and as an actor, playing Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues. Watts performed and recorded with the Branford Marsalis Quartet from 1985 to 2009. He currently performs with his own groups The Watts Project and the Jeff "Tain" Watts Quartet, as well as with McCoy Tyner, The George Cables Project, and Geri Allen. In 2007 Watts started his own record label, Dark Key Music, releasing Folk's Songs in 2007, Watts in 2009 and Family in 2011. Terence Blanchard won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo for Dark Key Music's "Dancin' 4 Chicken". Watts writes most of the compositions on his own albums.

Watts is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and can be seen on the album cover of Branford Marsalis's Braggtown with a Terrible Towel.

Discography

As leader

  • Megawatts (2004, originally recorded in 1991) Sunnyside
  • Citizen Tain (1999) Sony
  • Bar Talk (2002) Sony
  • DeTAINed at the Blue Note (2004) Halfnote
  • Folk's Songs (2007) Dark Key Music
  • WATTS (2009) Dark Key Music
  • Family (2011) Dark Key Music
  • "Blue, Vol. 1 (2015) Dark Key Music
  • Wattify (2016) Dark Key Music
  • "Blue, Vol. 2 (2016) Dark Key Music

As sideman

  • Wynton Marsalis (1982) - Wynton Marsalis
  • Scenes in the City (1983) - Branford Marsalis
  • Black Codes (From the Underground) (1985) - Wynton Marsalis
  • Live at Blues Alley (1986) - Wynton Marsalis
  • Standard Time Vol. 1 (1986) - Wynton Marsalis
  • Royal Garden Blues (1986) - Branford Marsalis
  • Open House (1988) - Harry Miller
  • Random Abstract (1988) - Branford Marsalis
  • Different Perspectives (JMT, 2989) - Robin Eubanks
  • Hard Groovin' (Muse, 1989) - Ricky Ford
  • When Harry Met Sally... (1989) - Harry Connick, Jr.
  • Trio Jeepy (1989) - Branford Marsalis
  • Crazy People Music (1990) - Branford Marsalis
  • The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1991) - Branford Marsalis
  • I Heard You Twice the First Time (1992) - Branford Marsalis
  • Bloomington (1993) - Branford Marsalis
  • The Dark Keys (1996) - Branford Marsalis
  • Songbook (1997) - Kenny Garrett
  • The Force (Qwest-Warner Bros., 1998) - Robert Stewart (saxophonist)
  • Two Blocks From the Edge (1998) - Michael Brecker
  • Time Is of the Essence (1999) - Michael Brecker
  • Simply Said (1999) - Kenny Garrett
  • Requiem (1999) - Branford Marsalis
  • Osteology (1999) - Conrad Herwig
  • Contemporary Jazz (2000) - Branford Marsalis
  • Footsteps of Our Fathers (2002) - Branford Marsalis
  • Romare Bearden Revealed (2003) - Branford Marsalis
  • Eternal (2004) - Branford Marsalis
  • Translinear Light (2004) - Alice Coltrane
  • A Love Supreme Live (2004) - Branford Marsalis
  • "Tales Of Time And Space" (2005) - Paul Grabowsky
  • Channel Three (2005) - Greg Osby
  • Outside by the Swing (2005) - Chihiro Yamanaka
  • Braggtown (2006) - Branford Marsalis
  • Quartet (2007) - McCoy Tyner
  • Letter to Herbie (2008) - John Beasley
  • Metamorphosen (2009) - Branford Marsalis
  • Mostly Standards (2009) - David Kikoski
  • Positootly! (2009) - John Beasley
  • Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard (2010) - Mingus Big Band
  • Circles (2010) - Benito Gonzalez
  • Circular (2011) - Laura Kahle
  • Undeniable: Live at Blues Alley (2011) - Pat Martino
  • My Witch's Blue (2012) - Makoto Ozone
  • The Seeker (2014) - Azar Lawrence
  • Christmas With Friends (2015) - India Arie/Joe Sample
  • Secret Rhymes (2015) - Troy Roberts
  • Movin' Forward (2015) - Robi Botos
  • Convergence (2016) - Warren Wolf
  • Leslie Odom Jr. (2016) - Leslie Odom Jr.
  • And To The Republic (2016) - ELEW

Recognition

Grammy Awards

  • Career Wins: 6[2]
  • Career Nominations: 15
Jeff "Tain" Watts Grammy History
Year Category Title Genre Label Result Notes
1986 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group Black Codes From The Underground Jazz Columbia Winner with Wynton Marsalis.
1987 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group J Mood Jazz Columbia Winner with Wynton Marsalis.
1988 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group Marsalis Standard Time - Volume 1 Jazz Columbia Winner with Wynton Marsalis.
1988 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group Trio Jeepy Jazz Columbia Nominated with Branford Marsalis
1990 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance - Group Mo Better Blues (soundtrack) Jazz CBS Nominated with the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
1993 Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group I Heard You Twice The First Time Jazz Columbia Winner with the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
1996 Best Jazz Instrumental Album PanaMonk Jazz Impulse Nominated with Danilo Perez.
1998 Best Jazz Instrumental Album Songbook Jazz Warner Bros. Nominated with Kenny Garrett.
2000 Best Jazz Instrumental Album by an Individual or Group Requiem Jazz Columbia Nominated with the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
2000 Best Jazz Instrumental Album by an Individual or Group Time is of the Essence Jazz Verve Nominated with Michael Brecker
2001 Best Jazz Instrumental Album by an Individual or Group Contemporary Jazz Jazz Columbia Winner with the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
2001 Best Latin Jazz Album Refugee Jazz Verve Nominated with Hector Martignon.
2005 Best Jazz Instrumental Album by an Individual or Group Eternal Jazz Marsalis Music Nominated with the Branford Marsalis Quartet.
2010 Best Jazz Instrumental Solo Watts Jazz Dark Key (Watts' label) Winner Terence Blanchard for the track "Dancin' 4 Chicken"
2011 Best Jazz Instrumental Album by an Individual or Group Positootly! Jazz Resonance Records Nominated with John Beasley.
2011 Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album Mingus Big Band Live at Jazz Standard Jazz Mingus Workshop, Inc/Jazz Standard Winner with the Mingus Big Band

References

  1. ^ From an interview with Kevin LeGendre for Jazz On 3 on BBC Radio 3.
  2. ^ Grammy Awards list Archived February 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

This page was last modified 29.11.2017 04:10:44

This article uses material from the article Jeff "Tain" Watts from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.