1954 - August 8

Julius Watkins – August 8 1954 

 

Leonard Feather: Julius Watkins – New Faces – New Sounds Liner Notes – BLP 5053 

THE INSTRUMENTAL family of jazz, many years ago, was a modest little group. If you had cornet, trombone, clarinet, banjo, tuba, drums and perhaps a piano, the family circle was virtually complete. 

Through the years, one by one, neglected relatives knocked at the door and were admitted to the threshold. Gradually the saxophones, guitar, bass violin and others gained admission. Just about the last instrument to present itself for consideration as an instrumental essential of the jazz scene was the French horn. 

There is no justifiable reason for the delayed entry of the noble horn; possibly the main reason may be the technical difficulties involved in its skilful manipulation. Be that as it may, the Cinderella role of the horn in jazz never deterred Julius Watkins from making its mastery his life's work. 

Born Oct. 10, 1921 in Detroit, Julius was only nine years old when Francis Helstein, French horn artist with the Detroit Symphony and then a teacher at a local school, asked a crowded roomful of young students what instruments they would like to play. Many of them selected some popular instrument such as drums or trumpet; but when Julius heard Helstein play a brief demonstration to interest them in the French horn, only he and one other child of the 40 present could sense immediately the unique beauty of its sound, and elected to study it. 

Julius continued his music lessons through his school years; by the end of his tuition he was studying classics by day and playing jam sessions at night. By 1943 he was ready for the road, starting a sojourn in the Ernie Fields orchestra which lasted until 1946. 

For a long time after that, Julius was a little elusive — as he puts it, "Whenever I feel like moving somewhere, I just get up and go." He lived in Colorado for about a year and was back home in Detroit for a while. The jazz world first became aware of him when he was featured in a big and unfortunately short-lived orchestra assembled by pianist Milton Buckner. Many of us who heard Julius play Yesterdays with that band were aware that here, for the first time, the full potential of the French horn in jazz was beginning to be realized. 

During the past five or six years Julius has been in New York most of the time. He has spent three years studying at the Manhattan School of Music under Robert Schulze of the New York Philharmonic. Another student at the school was George Butcher, the talented Brooklyn pianist and composer heard with him in this album. 

Julius has had difficulty reconciling his instrument with steady employment; at one time, in quiet desperation, he switched briefly to trumpet. On and off through the past year he has worked with a sextet under the leadership of Oscar Pettiford, who lends his mighty bass to these Blue Note sides. 

In the four double-length performances heard here, Julius believes he has captured the range of expression of which the horn is capable. Its 25 feet of metal encompass a four-octave range, from B flat to B flat concert, and the instrument (Julius uses what is known as a double-horn) can be played in either B flat or F, the adjustment being made according to the requirements of the performance. On these numbers he is on a B flat kick. 

Linda Delia, which starts the set, is a minor-key motif with an exotic Latin-rhythm beat. The ringing sound and blend of the two horns when Frank Foster's tenor joins Julius near the beginning is a particularly impressive moment. Frank, now a familiar figure in the Blue Note household (thanks to his own LP on 5043 and his appearances with Elmo Hope on 5044 and George Wallington on 5045) adapts his horn superbly to the mood of this piece. The rhythm section is noteworthy not only for its overall contribution but for the solos by Butcher and the ubiquitous "Klook" on drums. Perry Lopez, a fine new talent heard as guitar-mate of Johnny Smith in the latter's quartet at Birdland not long ago, makes an impressive Blue Note bow on this session. 

Perpetuation is perhaps the most swinging performance of the set, with Foster and Watkins both exciting in their solos, and individual notes from Butcher, Lopez, and the amazingly fleet and facile Mr. Pettiford. 

I have Known is a pensive piece which Julius visualizes as a potential pop song (he has had lyrics written for it by Gene Morgan). Guitar, tenor and the horn share the solo elaborations on this slow-moving, melodic theme. 

Leete (dedicated to a young lady whose last name is unrevealed) swings at a medium pace and shows, among other things, how ingeniously Julius writes for the combination of French horn and tenor. Pettiford again has a great solo. 

As Julius Watkins has said, "I think of the horn as sometimes very romantic, sometimes somber, sometimes a heroic type of expression." In these four performances he has shown, very eloquently, just what he had in mind. 

Photo and Cover Design by BILL HUGHES 

May 1955 New Releases

Michael Cuscuna: Connoisseur CD Reissue Liner Notes - 1998 

PRIOR TO THESE Blue Note sessions, Julius Watkins's first jazz exposure came from a Thelonious Monk quintet session for Prestige that included Sonny Rollins and introduced "Friday The 13th," "Think Of One" and "Let's Call This" to the world and an Oscar Pettiford sextet date for Debut. 

As these sessions prove, Watkins had extraordinary facility and the imaginative mind of a jazz improviser. This music is pure bop with no concessions to the technical difficulty in adapting French horn to the form. 

These recordings came at the end of the 10-inch era and, if they had any chance of selling, the new 12-inch format took care of that. Julius Watkins persevered and formed The Jazz Modes in 1957 with tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (they'd worked together in Pettiford's sextet.) The group lasted for three years and five albums (on Dawn and Atlantic) with some success. "Linda Delia" and "Garden Delights" from these sessions found their way into the Jazz Modes repertoire. 

But Watkins was becoming more and more in demand in studios, Broadway pits and the big bands of Pettiford, Pete Rugolo, Johnny Richards, George Shearing and later Charles Mingus. His technique and jazz ability made him doubly valuable on large-scale jazz recordings like Miles Davis's Porgy And Bess, Randy Weston's Uhuru Africa, John Coltrane's Africa Brass and countless sessions by Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Milt Jackson and so many others. 

Watkins never realized his goal to bring his instrument into the jazz mainstream. But his efforts have been carried on by the likes of John Clark, Tom Varner, Alex Brofsky and Vincent Chauncey. And the music he made under his own leadership and with so many giants is a testament to his varied and ubiquitous career. 

Down Beat 9 March 1955 Volume 22 Issue 5 

One of the two leading French horn players in jazz, Julius Watkins, who has appeared as a sideman on several records, now has an LP on his own. He used Frank Foster, tenor; Perry Lopez, guitar; George Butcher, piano; Oscar Pettiford, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums. 

The session, excellently recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, is a relaxed conversation with Watkins, Foster, Lopez, and Pettiford soloing well. Lopez emerges further as one of the best of the newer guitarists. First original is by Butcher; Watkins wrote the last three, and the most memorable of all is the ballad, I Have Known, which could probably be a pop hit if somebody like Joni James cut it, though I’d rather Ella or Sarah had a chance to hear it first. Perhaps somebody someday can record Julius and John Graas in an improvised dialogue. (Blue Note BLP 5053) 

Metronome May 1955 This LP gets better as it progresses. The first track, a Latin sort of thing, has some exciting French horn moments from Watkins, but also a few unpleasant fluffs, some sensitive Perry Lopez guitar, but some raucous Frank Foster tenor, and an annoying preponderance of echo on the horn, but none on the rhythm, so that it sounds almost like two separate groups playing. Perry's fleet guitar stands out on the second, which has some good unison writing that Julius doesn't quite make, some pretty good George Butcher piano and more harsh Foster tenor. Julius and Perry blow prettily on the lovely Known ballad; Frank chooses nice notes but hasn't the tone to match them, and Julius's fluffs are bothersome. Watkins plays his best jazz chorus on Everything I Love—oops sorry, they call it Leete— with Frank much improved, Oscar Pettiford adding a fine bass chorus, and the entire affair coming across as an optimistic sounding sort of piece of modern jazz. (Blue Note BLP 5053)

Notes etc: 

Nick Rossi provides more background on Bill Hughes (and other Blue Note designers) in his blog here. 

Session Information 

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, August 8, 1954 
Julius Watkins, French horn; Frank Foster, tenor sax; George Butcher, piano #1,2,4; Perry Lopez, guitar; Oscar Pettiford, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums. 

tk.3 Linda Delia 
tk.6 Perpetuation 
tk.7 I Have Known 
tk.8 Leete 

All selections on Blue Note LP 5053