Julius Watkins


Julius Watkins was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for Miscellaneous Instrument.

Life and career

Watkins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He began playing the French horn when he was nine years old. Watkins began his career in jazz playing the trumpet in the Ernie Fields Orchestra from 1943 to 1946. By the late 1940s, he had played some French horn solos on recording sessions led by Kenny Clarke and Babs Gonzales. After moving to New York City, Watkins studied for three years at the Manhattan School of Music. He started appearing in small-group jazz sessions, including two led by Thelonious Monk, featuring on "Friday the 13th" on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins.
Watkins recorded with many other jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Randy Weston, and with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. He co-led, with Charlie Rouse, the group Les Jazz Modes from 1956 to 1959, and he toured with Quincy Jones and his band from 1959 to 1961.
In 1969, Watkins played French horn for the beat poet Allen Ginsberg's album Songs of Innocence and Experience, a musical adaptation of William Blake's poetry collection of the same name.
Suffering from diabetes, liver and kidney problems, and chronic alcoholism, Watkins died from a heart attack in Short Hills, New Jersey, at the age of 55.
From 1994 to 1998, an annual Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held in New York, beginning at the Knitting Factory,) honoring his legacy. After an eleven-year break, another Julius Watkins Festival was held on October 3, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, at Cornish College of the Arts. On September 29, 2012, the seventh Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

With Charlie Rouse as Les Jazz Modes/The Jazz Modes
  • Jazzville Vol. 1 - shared LP with Gene Quill-Dick Sherman Quintet
  • Les Jazz Modes
  • Mood in Scarlet
  • The Most Happy Fella
  • The Jazz Modes
With Jazz Contemporaries
  • ''Reasons in Tonality''

    As sideman

With Manny Albam
  • Jazz Goes to the Movies
With Benny Bailey
  • Big Brass
With Art Blakey
  • Golden Boy
With Kenny Burrell
  • Guitar Forms
With Billy Byers
  • Impressions of Duke Ellington
With Donald Byrd
  • Jazz Lab - with Gigi Gryce
  • Modern Jazz Perspective - with Gigi Gryce
With John Coltrane
With Tadd Dameron
  • The Magic Touch
With Miles Davis
  • Porgy and Bess
  • Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall
  • Quiet Nights
With Billy Eckstein
With Gil Evans
  • New Bottle Old Wine
  • The Individualism of Gil Evans
  • Blues in Orbit
With Art Farmer
  • Brass Shout
With Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes
  • Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns
With Dizzy Gillespie
  • Gillespiana
With Allen Ginsberg
With Benny Golson
With Johnny Griffin
  • Change of Pace
With Gigi Gryce
  • Nica's Tempo
With Jimmy Heath
  • The Quota
  • Triple Threat
  • Swamp Seed
With Freddie Hubbard
  • The Body & the Soul
With Milt Jackson
  • Meet Milt Jackson
  • Roll 'Em Bags
  • For Someone I Love
With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
  • The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
With Quincy Jones
  • The Birth of a Band!
  • The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones
  • Q Live in Paris Circa 1960
  • The Birth of a Band! Vol. 2
  • I Dig Dancers
  • Around the World
  • Newport '61
  • The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones: Live!
  • The Quintessence
  • Big Band Bossa Nova
  • Quincy Jones Plays Hip Hits
  • Quincy Plays for Pussycats
With Thad Jones and Mel Lewis
  • Consummation
  • Suite for Pops
  • New Life
With Beverly Kenney
With Stan Kenton
  • Cuban Fire!
With Roland Kirk
  • Left & Right
With Michel Legrand
  • Michel Legrand Big Band Plays Richard Rogers
With the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars
With Herbie Mann
  • The Herbie Mann String Album
With Cal Massey
  • Blues to Coltrane
With Mat Mathews
With Charles McPherson
  • Today's Man
With Gil Mellé
  • Gil's Guests
With Charles Mingus
  • Music Written for Monterey 1965
  • Let My Children Hear Music
With Blue Mitchell
  • A Sure Thing
With Thelonious Monk
  • Monk
  • Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins
With David Newman
  • The Many Facets of David Newman
With Oliver Nelson
  • Afro/American Sketches
With Chico O'Farrill
  • Nine Flags
With Oscar Peterson
  • Bursting Out with the All-Star Big Band!
With Oscar Pettiford
With Johnny Richards
  • Experiments in Sound
  • The Rites of Diablo
  • Walk Softly/Run Wild!
With the Riverside Jazz Stars
  • A Jazz Version of Kean
With Pete Rugolo
  • Rugolomania
  • New Sounds by Pete Rugolo
With Pharoah Sanders
  • Karma
With George Shearing
  • Satin Brass
With Warren Smith
  • Composer's Workshop Ensemble
With Les Spann
  • Gemini
With Billy Taylor
  • Kwamina
With Clark Terry
  • Color Changes
With McCoy Tyner
With Randy Weston
  • Uhuru Afrika
  • Highlife
  • Tanjah
With Art Webb
  • Mr. Flute
With Mary Lou Williams
  • Mary Lou's Mass
With Phil Woods
  • ''Rights of Swing''