Motéma Music will release RUFUS REID’S – HUES OF A DIFFERENT BLUE

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African American, Bobby Watson, Duduka Da Fonseca, Freddie Hendrix, J.D. Allen, Jazz, Motéma Music, Rufus Reid, Steve Allee, Toninho Horta

On April 12, 2011 – Motéma Music will release
RUFUS REID’S – HUES OF A DIFFERENT BLUE
The Brilliant Follow Up to Out Front (2010, Motéma Music)

Rufus Reid & Out Front - Hues of a Different Blue

Featuring the Out Front Trio of Reid, Steve Allee (piano) & Duduka Da Fonseca (drums), with very special guests, legendary saxophonist Bobby Watson, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, saxophonist J.D. Allen & master Brazilian composer/guitarist Toninho Horta

***To view a special, behind-the-scenes video on the making of Hues of a Different Blue (produced by Suzi Reynolds)
please visit http://www.Redcatpublicity.com and click on the “what’s new” page***

“Reid is the man to call for any musical situation that demands both the utmost skill and impeccable taste…his luscious sound and buoyant swing can levitate an ensemble clear off the bandstand.” – The New Yorker

“His work is a virtual catalog of modern bass technique, tempered by his infallible musicianship. The man has taste…he consistently offers up an earthy tone, flawless intonation, and fluid fingerwork. Plus, you can set the clock by his impeccable time.” – DownBeat

“Reid and his colleagues managed an impressive feat: expressing a hard-core blues sensibility while retaining the high tonal sheen that defines this ensemble. The combined eloquence of Reid’s imperturbable bass lines, Allee’s harmonically advanced pianism and Da Fonseca’s multi-layered rhythms on drums made this the high point. The musicians cohered as a trio functioning as a single unit rather than three distinct sources of sound. Reid stands as one of the most versatile bassists in mainstream jazz.” – The Chicago Tribune

The Jazz Tribe -][- Next Step [Red Records]

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African American, Bobby Watson, Jazz, Ronnie Matthews, Saxophone, The Jazz Tribe

If you dig hard hitting straight ahead jazz with heavy Latin Jazz vibes woven throughout, then this joint featuring saxophonist Bobby Watson and pianist Ronnie Matthews is absolutely perfect for you! —Rob Young

The Jazz Tribe - Next Step (Red Records, 2000)

The Jazz Tribe -][- Next Step – [Red Records, 2000]

Spirited bebop-flavored jazz with a strong dose of Latin percussion needn’t sound like a museum piece. These jazz veterans–led by alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, trumpeter Jack Walrath, and percussionist Ray Mantilla–play with a loose-limbed ease and an infectious joy that make their youthful compatriots sound stiff and overly reverent. Though there’s nothing here that challenges the jazz canon–it’s all straightahead, Latin-charged bop–one senses that the bebop revolution penetrated deep into these musicians’ bones. They play with a fire and intensity that indicate they’ve lived this music and truly believe in it, rather than having merely learned it or adopted it like a new suit.

Pianist Ronnie Matthews and drummer Victor Lewis push the music forward with a relentless drive that the soloists, particularly the fluent Watson, respond to with verve. Bop from the 1950s and ’60s needn’t sound resurrected because, when it’s in the right hands, one realizes that Bird does, in fact, live. —Wally Shoup | Amazon.com

..:: Source: Amazon.com ::..

Bobby Watson Set To Release Seven-Part, The Gates BBQ Suite, on Lafiya Music – September 14, 2010

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African American, Bobby Watson, Jazz, Saxophone

Self-Produced Album Celebrates Kansas City’s Music, Most Famous Food — And a Watson Family Tradition

“Kansas City is the Napa Valley of barbeque. Gates Barbeque stands alone as king of the valley!” — Bobby Watson

Bobby Watson - The Gates BBQ Suite

Bobby Watson, famed Kansas City-area native, William and Mary Grant/Missouri Endowed Professor of Jazz and esteemed director of Jazz Studies at University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, and among the world’s premier and most well-respected alto saxophonists, is set to release his long-awaited extended large ensemble work: The Gates BBQ Suite.

The seven-part undertaking — has been like the food he sets to music: a slow, continual process on its way to perfection. Watson began conceptualizing his “dream piece” when he returned to his home city after more than twenty five years in New York to accept the endowed professorship in 2000 to become the Director of the UMKC Jazz Studies Department.

Ultimately, what The Gates BBQ Suite represents is a highly personalized statement and a distinctly respectful musical journey that incorporates the saxophonist’s measurable experience and talent as composer, arranger and performer. It also serves as a provocative aesthetic with a philosophical twist, a commentary and self-reflection. What should not be lost in the undertaking is that Watson chose to feature, poignantly so, UMKC’s Conservatory Concert Jazz Orchestra — his nationally recognized group of jazz students who has previously traveled to Europe as well as domestically to perform. This fall Watson will take the band to Japan for a series of concerts; part and parcel with that effort is the fact that Watson says the group will also perform other dates in support of the forthcoming CD.

31st Detroit International Jazz Festival 2010 Edition of the Labor Day Weekend Classic to Celebrate Flame Keepers

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Bobby Watson, Branford Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard

Detriot International Jazz Festival

Allen Toussaint, Take 6, Branford Marsalis, Mulgrew Miller, Roy Haynes, Manhattan Transfer, Kirk Whalum, and Mambo Legends Orchestra on tap.

Today, festival organizers announced the lineup for the 31st Detroit International Jazz Festival (DJF), Friday, September 3 through Monday, September 6, in downtown Detroit.

Subtitled “Flame Keepers – Carrying the Torch for Modern Jazz,” the Detroit Jazz Fest will feature a veritable “dean’s list” of alumni who passed through the “schools” of Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Betty Carter, Ray Brown, Miles Davis and Gil Evans. “2010 artists Mulgrew Miller, Bobby Watson, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Randy Brecker, and Benny Green were all in Blakey’s band at one time or another,” says festival director Terri Pontremoli. “These musicians went on to develop their own bands, explore new territory and nurture a new generation of flame keepers,” she added. “In jazz, a lot of press is given to the veterans or to the young lions. I am happy to focus this year on these “middle men” who are in the peak of their creative and technical powers, making significant music in our time.”

Bobby Watson | Live & Learn

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African American, Alto Saxophone, Bobby Watson, Jazz

Bobby Watson | Live & Learn – [Palmetto, 2002]

Bobby Watson - Live & Learn

Bobby Watson may be the unluckiest person in the history of jazz, a music littered with unlucky people. Watson, who came up with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, where he was musical director for a number of years, went on to record four or five great records for the Italian Red label, including one of the best all-time jazz recordings ever, Love Remains. Capitol took notice and signed his group, Horizon, which may have been the best post-bop unit in the history of jazz, to a multi-record contract. And though they produced some great records, esp. The Inventor, they never really hit it big. From there he linked up with Kokopelli, Herbie Mann’s abortive attempt to make jazz accessible to the masses, and made the creditable but critically scorned Urban Renewal, which did nothing to advance his already sinking career. Then he made Quiet As It’s Kept, back on Red, a really fine record, which promptly sunk like a stone.