A marvelously gifted, Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and composer,
Jeff "Tain" Watts is a dynamic technician with an ear for inventive, polyrhythmic interplay and hard-swinging grooves. His style, while distinctively his own, evinces his love of artists like
Elvin Jones,
Tony Williams, and
Max Roach. Although a star in his own right,
Watts is best known for his long association with brothers
Wynton and
Branford Marsalis, whose groups he was a member of during his early formative years, recording such landmark albums as
Black Codes (From the Underground), and the Grammy-winning
I Heard You Twice the First Time. Also with
Branford, he played on the soundtrack to several of director
Spike Lee's films, including
Mo' Better Blues, in which he also appeared onscreen. Since launching his own career as leader in the '90s, he has balanced working with other artists (he played on
the Mingus Big Band's Grammy-winning 2011 album Live at the Jazz Standard), and releasing his own albums, many recorded at his home studio, a former church in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Born in 1960 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
Watts began playing snare drum at age four, and received his first drum set in his teens. Although interested in jazz, funk, rock, fusion, and other styles of popular music, he initially majored in classical percussion at Duquesne University, where he focused on becoming a timpanist. It was after transferring to Boston's Berklee School of Music in 1979, and meeting classmates like
Branford Marsalis,
Kevin Eubanks,
Donald Harrison, and others that he decided upon a jazz career. His friendship with
Branford eventually brought him to New York in 1981, where he joined the saxophonist in trumpeter
Wynton Marsalis' ensemble. Over the next decade, he would tour and record with the acclaimed siblings, appearing on the Grammy Award-winning albums
Black Codes (From the Underground),
J Mood, and
Standard Time, Vol. 1. It was during this period, while on tour with the band, that he also earned his nickname of "Tain," purportedly a shortened version of Chieftain, given to him by pianist
Kenny Kirkland after the band stopped at a Chieftain gas station. Also during the '80s,
Watts appeared on numerous other albums, including
Harry Connick, Jr.'s hugely popular
When Harry Met Sally soundtrack, as well as albums by
McCoy Tyner,
Robin Eubanks,
Sadao Watanabe,
Marlon Jordan, and others.
The '90s were also a fruitful time for
Watts, who made his solo debut alongside
Kirkland and bassist
Charles Fambrough on
Megawatts (originally released in 1993 as Thunder and Rainbows). He also continued his work with
Branford Marsalis, including working with the saxophonist on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and appearing on such highly regarded efforts as Crazy People Music, the Grammy-winning
I Heard You Twice the First Time, and Buckshot LeFonque. The drummer also made his acting debut, appearing in, and playing on the soundtrack to director
Spike Lee's jazz-themed film
Mo' Better Blues. He rounded out the decade with the release of his sophomore solo album, 1999's
Citizen Tain, which featured appearances by both
Wynton and
Branford, as well as their brother, trombonist
Delfeayo Marsalis.
During the early 2000s,
Watts continued to split his time between working with
Branford, picking up more session credits, and recording his own albums. In 2002, he released his third full-length album,
Bar Talk, which included contributions from
Branford, as well as saxophonists
Ravi Coltrane and
Michael Brecker. The live album, Detained at the Blue Note, followed in 2004, and featured the drummer's quintet with saxophonist
Marcus Strickland, pianist
Dave Kikoski, guitarist
David Gilmore, and bassist
Eric Revis. Albums followed with
Greg Osby,
Steve Coleman,
Rodney Jones, and others, before
Watts returned with a second quintet effort, 2007's Folk's Songs. In 2009, he delivered both Watts, with
Terence Blanchard,
Branford, and bassist
Christian McBride, and The Impaler with the
DR Big Band. The quartet date, Family, appeared in 2011, and once again featured
Kikoski, as well as saxophonist Steve Wilson and bassist
James Genus. Also in 2011, he picked up yet another Grammy win for his work on
Mingus Big Band's Live at the Jazz Standard. A year later, he joined pianist
Makoto Ozone for the
ECM date
My Witch's Blue.
Around 2013,
Watts relocated to Easton, Pennsylvania where he opened a recording studio in a former church. Since then, he has recorded regularly and released a handful of his own albums, including 2015's Blue, Vol. 1, 2016's Wattify, and 2016's Blue, Vol. 2, all of which showcase his ever-increasing maturity as a composer and bandleader. In 2017, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in the field of music composition. The following year, he joined saxophonist
Rostislav Fraš and pianist
Antonio Faraò on Use the Moment. ~ Matt Collar