By Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — Longtime alto saxophone-standout Bobby Watson appears with his quartet Saturday at the new Jazz Cave located inside the Nashville Jazz Workshop, 1012 Buchanan Street. Watson’s band includes bassist Curtis Lundy, pianist Marc Payne and drummer Terreon Gully. Watson and Lundy appeared two years ago in Nashville at Rudy’s. COVID-19 protocols are in effect. All persons inside the venue must be fully vaccinated and show their vaccination card, ID, and ticket at the door. The Workshop asks that everyone wear a mask while inside. Masks will be provided for all those who don’t have them.
Watson is a native of Kansas City, and received formal training at the University of Miami in their jazz program. After graduation he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and eventually became the band’s music director. Watson played with them from 1977-1981, but since then has enjoyed an impressive tenure as both a prolific session musician and a bandleader. Some of the greats he’s played with include drummers Max Roach and Louis Hayes, saxophonists George Coleman and Branford Marsalis, multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. He’s also accompanied such top vocalists as Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter and Carmen Lundy.
Watson created the group Horizon with Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, as well as other outstanding player like pianist Ed Simon, trumpeter TereIl Stafford and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet. Horizon was a critically acclaimed group that made highly praised albums for Blue Note and Columbia, staying together from the 80s through the ‘90s and into the early 2000s.
But Watson’s led other fine groups, among them the nine-piece High court of Swing – a tribute to the music of Johnny Hodges – and the 16-piece Tailor Made Big Band. He’s also a founding member of the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, an all-horn, four-piece ensemble.
The Bobby Watson Quartet at the NJW’s Jazz Cave, 1012 Buchanan Street, Saturday. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40.
