BOBBY WATSON ?

[Scott Dolan]

I knew a dude in my teenage years that ate the bones. He did not find it weird at all. 

[Dan Gould]

Not talking about eating the bones. Talkin' bout this:

 

[Scott Dolan]

Oh, I know. I was just saying, I’ve witnessed something even more extreme. 

[duaneiac]

You know overalls must really have had something going for them when even Mr. Greenjeans switched to them instead of the garment which gave his family their name/heritage.

[JSngry]

 

[BFrank]

Not to 'change' the subject (or rather get BACK on subject), these were also good albums with the "overalls" band.

[Scott Dolan]

That second picture don’t look like no overalls I ever seen, city boy! 

[Rooster_Ties]

Updated, for today's modern hipster...

[JSngry]

[felser]

2 hours ago, BFrank said:

Not to 'change' the subject (or rather get BACK on subject), these were also good albums with the "overalls" band.

Gypsy Folk Tales actually has Walter Davis rather than James Williams, but it is a wonderful album.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

6 hours ago, skeith said:

I saw him about a year ago in a Manhattan jazz club...more than "old".... what shocked me was how overweight he was.  I am not a fat shamer, but his weight gain looked unhealthy as he seemed to walk slowly.   Absolutely no effect on his playing or fingers which flew all over his horn.

Yeah, he has certainly put on a few pounds these days but then I look in a mirror and... well, I guess he doesn't look too fat.

[BFrank]

23 hours ago, felser said:

Gypsy Folk Tales actually has Walter Davis rather than James Williams, but it is a wonderful album.

Yes, Davis on that one, but the group typically featured Williams. That Schnitter album is very good, too!

 

[danasgoodstuff]

Saw BW with his band Horizon(s) twice in the Twinn Cities nearly 30 years ago, totally smoking.  Records ok but none I've heard as good as those gogs.

[sidewinder]

15 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Saw BW with his band Horizon(s) twice in the Twinn Cities nearly 30 years ago, totally smoking.  Records ok but none I've heard as good as those gogs.

Same here - probably the same tour. Melton Mustapha on trumpet, Essiet Essiet on bass. Brilliant live group and most professional. It was about -30 outside as I recall.

[Patrick]

Cool Jazz?

[Peter Friedman]

Bobby has never been among my favorite alto players, but this is one I do enjoy.

[Rooster_Ties]

6 minutes ago, Peter Friedman said:

Bobby has never been among my favorite alto players...

Me either, but there's like half-a-dozen things about his playing that puts him right up there for me.  I mean, I really like the Bobby dates I do have on CD and LP (not a whole lot, actually - 2 LP's, and 2-3 CD's).  But I've never felt the calling to go collect even half his recorded output.

But as I said, there are so many things about his playing that I do really like -- it's funny I've never gotten as enthusiastic about him as even I might have expected.

His technique is always stunning, but what he has to say with it seems to vary (live) in terms of how inspired he his.  Not sure I've said it before in this thread (though I know I have elsewhere), but when I lived back in Kansas City, I used to hear Bobby 3-5 times every year (half the time, him sitting in with folks).  And he ALWAYS played at an extremely high level.  BUT...

...BUT, sometimes you could really tell he was just phoning it in in terms of "ideas".  I could never find any fault with how he played, but WHAT he played sometimes (more than sometimes) made it seem like he was on autopilot.  Phenomenal technique, though (and I say that not thinking of him primarily as being a 'technician' either).

I always wanted to hire Bobby for the jazz series I produced back in Kansas City (that I called "Jazz & Beyond") -- specifically backed by a really fiery bass/duo rhythm section (no piano, no guitar, just Bobby + bass and drums).  Something to really inspire him to pull out all (and more) of the stops.  God knows he could do it.  I just never heard him play like that more than 3-4 times in the entire 5-6 years he and I both were in Kansas City (over 25 times hearing him in all sorts of contexts).

SIDENOTE:  I'm going to hear him this Saturday up in Baltimore, with Louis Hayes, and a bunch of first-call(?) local players [all of whom I expect should inspire Bobby quite a bit].  Looking forward to it, and hoping Bobby delivers.  Fingers crossed.

[JSngry]

If he doesn't phone it in, be sure to offer him a personal thanks for that after the gig. Cats love it when that happens!

[Rabshakeh]

Just come across this great thread.  Did the entire BLAKEY group have to wear dungarees? Are there any pictures? Did it continue during Wynton’s early tenure? 

I mean pictures of the whole group on stage, by the way.

[Gheorghe]

4 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Just come across this great thread.  Did the entire BLAKEY group have to wear dungarees? Are there any pictures? Did it continue during Wynton’s early tenure? 

I mean pictures of the whole group on stage, by the way.

I had to google what "dungarees" means. Oh my God, my fashion nightmare if women wear that stuff........, 
Yeah, as much as I remember, those Messengers in the late 70´s did wear that kind of casual wear, Blakey himself had dungarees jeans which made him look even shorter than he was. 

I remember those bands with Bobby Watson (I think he was the "musical director"), David Schnitter, and the great russian trumpetist Valeriu Ponomarev , James Williams on piano, Dennis Irvin on bass, they really cooked and brought the Messengers back for top billing after a weaker period in the earlier 70´s. 
My favourite LP was "In This Korner". I think, one year later David Schnitter was replaced by Billy Pierce, and on bass was Charles Fambrough, so I saw those Bobby Watson featured Messengers on more ocasions....

[JSngry]

Supposedly Wynton wasn't having the overalls and told Blakey something like "we need to out out of the field".

[sidewinder]

Blakey was wearing those dungarees the first time or two I saw him but not the rest of the band. See cover photo of ‘Gypsy Folk Tales’ LP.

Wynton was either in blue jacket plus chinos or suit, definitely not dungarees !

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

I had to google what "dungarees" means. Oh my God, my fashion nightmare if women wear that stuff........, 
Yeah, as much as I remember, those Messengers in the late 70´s did wear that kind of casual wear, Blakey himself had dungarees jeans which made him look even shorter than he was. 

I remember seeing Herbie Lewis wearing dungarees at a Ronnie Scott’s gig as well. Height of fashion at the time. 

Edited June 17, 2022 by sidewinder

[Rabshakeh]

17 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Wynton was either in blue jacket plus chinos or suit, definitely not dungarees !

That's a shame. I'd have liked to see that.

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

I had to google what "dungarees" means. Oh my God, my fashion nightmare if women wear that stuff........, 

Apparently dungarees is British English. I hadn't really thought about it before. Sorry to use an unusual term.

[JSngry]

My experience with "dungarees" is that it refers to blue jeans, they type you buy to work in, manual and/or dirty work.

We call what the Messengers were wearing "overalls". and they're definitely not leisure wear, at lest not under typical usage. Go figure!

Watch an episode of Hee-Haw to check it out!

[kh1958]

That's right, in Texas English dungarees equals jeans and those things are overalls, which are suitable for farming.