ErnieWatts © William Claxton

Two-time Grammy Award winner Ernie Watts is one of the most versatile and prolific saxophone players on the music scene. In a diverse career that has spanned more than thirty years, he has been featured on more than 500 recordings by artists ranging from Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa, always exhibiting his unforgettable trademark sound. After 18 solo records for a variety of labels, large and small, Watts started Flying Dolphin Records, a company he runs with his wife Patricia.

Watts started playing saxophone at age 13. He accompanied a friend who was enrolling in the local school music program, and found himself carrying home an instrument as well. Later he won a Downbeat Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. When Gene Quill left Buddy Rich’s Big Band a young Ernie Watts got the job. He left Berklee for that, staying with Rich from 1966-1968 and touring the world. Watts then moved to Los Angeles and began working in the big bands of Gerald Wilson and Oliver Nelson. With the Nelson band, Watts visited Africa on a U.S. State Department tour in 1969.   During the 1970s and ‘80s, Watts was involved with almost all the early West Coast Motown sessions, and with pop stars such as Aretha Franklin and Steely Dan.  Watts performed with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and toured with Pat Metheny’s Special Quartet.

Watts’ eclectic mix of career activities has included Jazz at the Kennedy Center for Billy Taylor, as well as touring with Gene Harris and appearing on his last recording, Alley Cats (live at the Jazz Alley in Seattle). A typical year finds Watts touring Europe with his own quartet, in Asia as a featured guest artist and performing at summer festivals throughout North America and Europe. A skilled educator, he continues his commitment to music education by conducting student workshops and has compiled a collection of orchestral arrangements for guest soloist appearances with symphonies. And there is the occasional “hometown gig” with the Ernie Watts Quartet in Los Angeles, where he is still based.

Biographic information adapted from www.erniewatts.com

Ernie Watts Quartet performs on August 23rd through the 25th. at the  Jazz Bakery -  just South of Venice Blvd. at 3233 Helms Ave. in Culver City.  The box office opens one hour before show time, you can also call for reservations at 310-271-9039.  For more information visit  jazzbakery.com