06/29 8:00 PM & 10PM - $65.00
Charlie Watts
General Admission tickets go on sale Monday April 16th at 11AM.
Tickets will be made available through Ticketweb and a limited few at Iridium Box Office.
“The best jazz drummer of the goddamn century.” – Keith Richards, Life
“Jazz is my passion. This is the music that I really want to do.” – Charlie Watts, 2010
Drummer for
the Rolling Stones since the beginning in January 1962.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee (1989)
Modern Drummer Hall of Fame Inductee (2006)
Ranked as one of the Top Ten World’s Best Drummers, per
Rolling Stone magazine readers’ poll, February 2010
Charlie Watts born on June 2, 1941, in London, England is a
prominent figure in the world of rock and roll as the longtime drummer
of
the Rolling Stones. He grew up in Wembley near London as the son of a truck driver. Watts first played with the Rolling Stones in 1963.
Around the age of ten, Watts discovered jazz and blues music; Miles
Davis and John Coltrane were two of his early influences. He started
playing music on his own a few years later, converting a banjo into a
snare drum. But music was just a side interest for Watts at the time. He
left school at 16, and then studied at the Harrow School of Art.
In 1960, Watts got a job with a London advertising agency. He showed
his literary and artistic talents though his children’s book about jazz
legend Charlie Parker, Ode to a High-Flying Bird, which was published in
1961. Watts also played drums with a variety of groups, including
Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated. Blues Incorporated was an important
part of London’s burgeoning blues scene, and featured appearances by
such performers as
Brian Jones,
Mick Jagger,
Eric Clapton, and others.
Watts, however, quit the band as it became more popular because he
did not want to leave his day job. Guitarist Brian Jones went to form
the Rollin’ Stones (later the Rolling Stones) with singer Mick Jagger,
pianist Ian Stewart, and guitarists
Keith Richards and Dick Taylor in 1962. After turning down
the Rolling Stones previously, Watts finally agreed to join the group and played his first gig with the band in January 1963.
“For me it was just another job offer,” Watts explained in According to
the Rolling Stones.
He had no expectation that the group would soon be the next big rock
sensation. In 1964, the Rolling Stones hit the No. 3 spot on the British
pop charts with their cover of Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now.”
While the rest of the band was cultivating their image as rock
music’s bad boys, Watts was settling down. He married Shirley Ann
Shephard in 1964, and the couple welcomed a daughter named Seraphina
four years later.
The Rolling Stones scored their first No. 1 hit in the United States
in 1965 with “Satisfaction.” A string of other successful songs quickly
followed such as “Paint It Black” and “Ruby Tuesday.” The self-described
“World’s Greatest Rock & Roll Band” continued to enjoy enormous
popularity for the next two decades.
By the 1980s, he found time to pursue projects outside the Rolling
Stones. He returned to his first love, jazz, and formed a number of
different groups. Current jazz project with
The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie featuring
Axel Zwingenberger, Ben Waters, Charlie Watts and
Dave Green.
“A blast of sheer good fun… As the entire ensemble launched into a
finale of Down the Road Apiece…the whole room seemed to have turned into
a bouncy castle for grown-ups.” – The Times UK, April 15, 2009
Released seven jazz albums with the
Charlie Watts Orchestra, Charlie Watts Quintet, Charlie Watts / Jim Keltner Project and
Charlie Watts and The Tentet.
Contributed to music on albums by
Jack Bruce, B.B. King,
Alexis Korner, Leon Russell, Pete Townshend/Ronnie Lane, Muddy Waters,
Howlin’ Wolf, Eric Clapton, Chico Hamilton, Marianne Faithfull, AC/DC,
Ben Sidran and many more.
Drummer in
Rocket 88, with
Jack Bruce (upright bass),
Ian Stewart (piano) and
Alexis Korner (guitar).
Over the past two decades, Charlie has been able to pursue his
passion for jazz, playing in a variety of settings whenever he wasn’t
otherwise engaged with the “World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band.”
In 1985, Charlie formed a big band, the Charlie Watts Orchestra, and toured the U.S., ultimately releasing
Live at Fulham Town Hall. In 1991, he formed a small group, called
The Charlie Watts Quintet,
to pay homage to the music that first grabbed him while growing up in
London. In a span of five years they released a series of stellar
recordings:
From One Charlie, Tribute To Charlie Parker, Warm And Tender and
Long Ago And Far Away. Next came Charlie’s heartfelt collaboration with
Jim Keltner,
The Charlie Watts / Jim Keltner Project,
in tribute to their favorite drummers, with each track titled after a
different hero. On his most recent double-CD release, Charlie’s Tentet
was recorded live at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s in London on
Watts at Scott’s.
Hear the warmth, joy, and virtuosity of this dream team of jazz masters
as they perform a diverse collection of compositions from the likes of
Duke Ellington and
Thelonius Monk to originals from the Tentet themselves including
Gerard Presencer‘s take on
the Glimmer Twins in “Faction,” to two tracks culled from the aforementioned
Watts / Keltner Project.
