Today, I read the first chapter in P.G. Smith’s dissertation about Julius Watkins. This was the biographical bit, and while it did not lead to any meaty or contentious insights (naturally), it did give a decent background to Julius’s life.
Which leads me to wonder whether composing a general timeline for the whole instrument might be of order.
In any case, here is the brief timeline of Julius Watkins’ life, as taken from Smith’s dissertation.
Phase 1
1921 – Julius Burton Watkins born in Detroit
1937 – Drops out of high school to devote more time to being a soloist
1939-1942 – Tours with Ernie Fields’s orchestra, but forced to play trumpet or trombone only. Unhappy.
1942 – Moves to Denver, forms an unrecorded sextet. Plays for a year.
1943 – Moves to Detroit, steady work, unfulfilled as a soloist
1946-1949 – Tours with Milt Buckner’s “Beale Street Gang” as a hornist, trumpetist, and trombonist.
1950 – Enters Manhattan School of Music, thrives for one year
1953 – Due to unknown circumstances, drops out of school. Also divorces first wife
Phase 2
1954 – Appears with Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins, marking the beginning of a 5 year run as a combo soloist with many groups. Also records with Pete Rugolo this year.
1954 – Forms Julius Watkins Sextet, which records two 10″ blue note LP’s.
1955 – While on a date with the Oscar Pettiford Sextet, meets Charlie Rouse, who will become musical partner for next 4 years
1955 – Closing months: Les Modes (alternatively: Les Jazz Modes, The Jazz Modes) forms.
1955-1956 – Still unrecorded, Les Modes tours consistently, most notably and importantly in Birdland for one week, starting Jan. 3, 1957
1957 – After success at Birdland, Les Modes record 4 albums: Mood in Scarlet, The Jazz Modes, Smart Jazz for the Smart Set, and The Most Happy Fella
1959 – After slowing record sales, The Jazz Modes end after a disastrously reviewed avant-garde performance with a ballet company on Jan. 23, 1959
Phase 3
1959 – Meets Quincy Jones, who he will perform with for the next year or so
1959 – During a tour in France with Q. Jones, the band becomes stranded in Europe for 10 months. During these 10 months, Watkins develops into a consistent alcoholic, also given nickname “Phantom”
1960-1968 – Performs consistently, yet almost exclusively as a sideman
1968 – Health failing, drops off the recording scene, becomes homeless.
1969 – Moves into Warren Smith’s studio for 18 mos., meets and records with Pharoah Sanders, Mary Lou Williams (with David Amram), and others
1970 – Meets 2nd wife, married and moves to New Jersey
1972 – Records last known original piece and takes last known improvised jazz solo with the Jazz Contemporaries
1972-1977 – Begins teaching, but plagues with diabetes, playing suffers, only really appears in large orchestras
1977 – April 4, dies of a massive heart attack
That’s a lot of Julius’s life (but not all!)
As well, today I transcribed two solos: Oscar Pettiford’s Two French Fries and Mitch Miller’s Horn Belt Boogie
On Two French Fries, we hear solos from both David Amram and Julius Watkins (get the title?). I transcribed Amram’s, since I will be exploring him a bit next. While on the surface, the soloists are nearly indistinguishable, the division becomes readily apparent when analyzed structurally. First of all, the form is a 32 bar AABA. After bar 32 of the first soloist, we hear a sharp stylistic distinction, with more bends, more lip glissandos, fewer chromatic leading tones, more blue notes, more missed notes, and a smaller range. This is David Amram. It is a really cool solo, way more bluesy and “swaggerissimo” (as my band instructor likes to say) than Watkins.
On Horn Belt Boogie we hear what may possibly be the first recorded improvised french horn solo in a jazz setting (I have to do some more digging on this one, though). The soloist is probably Gunther Schuller, but I need to do a lot more digging around to find out more about this piece. While short, the solo is very nice, conforming to the bebop licks that were dying out (well, still are) very slowly. Lots of flat sevens and sixes. Yeah.
In Love and Horn-
Mamet