Charlie Watts

At 80 years old, Charlie Watts has this physical status:

Career

He worked as a graphic designer for a design firm called Charlie Daniels Studios, as well as playing drums with local bands in coffee shops and clubs. Green and Brown began their musical careers together from 1958 to 1959, appearing in the Jo Jones All Stars, a jazz band in Middlesex. Watts' switch to rhythm and blues was puzzling: "I went into rhythm and blues." I didn't know what it was when they asked me to play. I assumed it meant Charlie Parker, who was slow," he said.

Watts met Alexis Korner in 1961, who invited him to join his band Blues Incorporated. Watts was on his way to a sojourn as a graphic designer in Denmark, but he accepted Korner's invitation when he returned to London in February 1962. Watts worked with Blues Incorporated on a daily basis and spent time with Charles, Hobson, and Gray, an advertising company.

Watts first met Brian Jones, Ian "Stu" Stewart, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards, who also frequented the London rhythm and blues clubs, but Watts didn't join the Rolling Stones until January 1963. Watts, who had been earning a regular paycheck from his gigs, was first unable to pay him. On February 2nd, 1963, he made his first public appearance as a permanent member at the Ealing Jazz Club. During live concerts, Watts was often referred to as "The Wembley Whammer" by Jagger.

Watts, in addition to his work as a musician, contributed graphic art and comic strips to early Rolling Stones' Like the Buttons record sleeve and was also responsible for the 1975 tour announcement press conference in New York City. The band surprised the throng of waiting journalists by playing "Brown Sugar" on the back of a flatbed truck in the middle of Manhattan traffic. Watts recalled that this was a traditional way for New Orleans jazz bands to advertise forthcoming dates. In addition, Jagger designed the elaborate stages for tours, first contributing to the Tour of the Americas' lotus-shaped layout, the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, the Licks Tour, and the A Bigger Bang Tour.

Watts' last live concert with the band was August 30th, 2019 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. He had never missed a single show in his time with the band. He is the only member of the Rolling Stones to have appeared on every album.

Watts was involved in several activities outside of his role as a member of the Rolling Stones. He released Ode to a High Flying Bird, a Charlie Parker homage in December 1964. Although he made his name in rock, his personal tastes lay largely in jazz.

He joined Ian Stewart in the back-to-the-bones boogie-woogie band Rocket 88, which featured many of the country's top jazz, rock, and R&B performers. Evan Parker, Courtney Pine, and Jack Bruce, who was also a member of Rocket 88, performed internationally with a big band called the Charlie Watts Orchestra in the 1980s.

He orchestrated a jazz quintet in 1991 as another tribute to Charlie Parker. The Charlie Watts Quintet's Warm and Tender collection of 1993 saw vocalist Bernard Fowler appear in the book. In 1996, the same group Long Ago and Far Away appeared together, and Far Away was released. Both albums featured a set of Great American Songbook guidelines. Following their collaboration on the Rolling Stones' 1997 album Bridges to Babylon, Jim Keltner and drummer Jim Keltner produced the Charlie Watts/Jim Keltner Project. Watts said that, although the tracks bore such names as the "Elvin Suite" in honor of late Elvin Jones, Max Roach, and Roy Haynes, they were not reproducing their style of drumming but rather capturing a feeling of the performers. Watts at Scott's Jazz Club in London was recorded with his band "the Charlie Watts Tentet" by James Watts at the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.

He began performing with Boogie Woogie's ABC&D in April 2009. When asked to join by pianist Ben Waters, he obliged; his only request being that Dave Green play bass. "If Dave does it, I'll do it," says the singer.

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