BIX TOP ACT • BOBBY WATSON 4TET

Saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator Bobby Watson grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. He completed his formal education at the University of Miami, a college with a renowned and highly regarded jazz program.

After graduation, he earned his musical chops - on stage - as the musical director of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. The group, founded in 1955 by the legendary drummer who died in 1990, featured a rotating cast of musicians, many of whom, like Watson, went on to successful careers as bandleaders themselves. The Jazz Messengers - often referred to as "Blakey University" - served as the ultimate training ground for ambitious young musicians.
After more than four years with the Jazz Messengers (1977-1981), during which he made more than a dozen recordings - more than any other member of the Jazz Messengers - the talented Watson became a sought-after musician. He collaborated with a host of notable artists - including colleagues, companions and fellow travelers - including drummers Max Roach and Louis Hayes, saxophonists George Coleman and the young Branford Marsalis, acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (who joined the Jazz Messengers at least partly on Watson's recommendation). In addition to collaborating with various instrumentalists, Watson also accompanied a number of well-known and stylistically diverse singers, including Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter and Carmen Lundy.

Later, together with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, Watson formed the first line-up of Horizon, an acoustic quintet modeled in many ways on the Jazz Messengers, but with its own, somewhat more modern style. Other talented members of the group included pianist Ed Simon, trumpeter TereIl Stafford and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet. Horizon, which still occasionally performs together today, is considered by critics to be one of the most outstanding small groups of the 1980s to 1990s and even into the 2000s. The group released several highly acclaimed albums on the Blue Note and Columbia labels, including "Post-Motown Bop" (Blue Note) and "Midwest Shuffle, Live!" (Columbia).

Line-up: Bobby Watson (sax);