Watts

Watts, Jeff "Tain"
Dark Key Music
Jazz | May 2009

Reviews

Fo
Reviewed 2009-05-16
JEFF “TAIN” WATTS: Watts
Dark Key Music, 2009

MODERN BOP – Hard-edged, exciting jazz from a volcanic drummer, leading an all-star quartet. Watts is an unstoppable force on the uptempo numbers, disintegrating anything that gets in his way. But this stuff really grooves, too… hold onto your hat and crank it up!

Jeff "Tain" Watts - drums
Terence Blanchard - trumpet
Branford Marsalis - saxophones
Christian McBride - bass
Lawrence Fields - piano (#4)

* * * * | Fo’s Picks: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10

1. 7:03 – sinister riffs into a fierce bop jam: percolating horns, bashing drums
2. 5:36 – relaxed bluesy groove, sax blows cool & hot, tricky tempo shifts
3. 5:23 – funky New Orleans bounce, lots of horn conversation… gotta love it!
4. 5:06 – upbeat ballad with piano, soprano sax… subtle, bittersweet details
5. 9:33 – [2 FCCs in the first minute (“fuggin”). After that it’s clean, and great]
6. 6:18 – basically a long drum solo, periodically interrupted by the horns
7. 6:38 – cool walk, based on Monk’s “Trinkle Tinkle”: nifty trumpet, bass solo
8. 6:52 – political skit: a GW Bush aide phones Satan… dig his “hold” music!
9. 3:06 – drum solo rises from silence, rolls, subsides
10. 6:05 – just the music track from #8 (speedy post-bop jam)

[ Fo ] 05/16/09

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Charting

2009-05-17 — 2009-07-19 Jazz
Week EndingAirplays
Jul 5 2
Jun 28 1
Jun 21 3
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May 31 1
May 24 2

Track listing

1. Return Of The Jitney Man
2. Brekky With Drecky
3. Katrina James
4. Owed...
5. Dancin' 4 Chicken
6. Wry Köln
7. Dingle-Dangle
8. Devil's Ring Tone: The Movie
9. M'buzai
10. The Devil's Ring Tone