Julius Watkins

Biography

Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) 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 (1954).
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 (1970), 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.

As leader/co-leader

Julius Watkins Sextet, Vol 1 & 2 (Blue Note, 1954, 1955)
French Horns for My Lady (Phillips, 1962)
With Charlie Rouse as Les Jazz Modes/The Jazz Modes

Jazzville Vol. 1 (Dawn, 1956) - shared LP with Gene Quill-Dick Sherman Quintet
Les Jazz Modes (Dawn, 1956)
Mood in Scarlet (Dawn, 1956)
The Most Happy Fella (Atlantic, 1958)
The Jazz Modes (Atlantic, 1959)
With Jazz Contemporaries (George Coleman, Clifford Jordan, Harold Mabern, Larry Ridley, Keno Duke)

Reasons in Tonality (Strata-East, 1972)

As sideman

With Manny Albam

Jazz Goes to the Movies (Impulse!, 1962)
With Benny Bailey

Big Brass (Candid, 1960)
With Art Blakey

Golden Boy (Colpix, 1964)
With Kenny Burrell

Guitar Forms (Verve, 1965)
With Billy Byers

Impressions of Duke Ellington (Mercury, 1961)
With Donald Byrd

Jazz Lab (Columbia, 1957) - with Gigi Gryce
Modern Jazz Perspective (Columbia, 1957) - with Gigi Gryce
With John Coltrane

Africa/Brass (Impulse!, 1961)
The Africa/Brass Sessions, Volume 2 (Impulse!, 1961 [1974])
With Tadd Dameron

The Magic Touch (Riverside, 1962)
With Miles Davis

Porgy and Bess (Columbia, 1959)
Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (Columbia, 1961)
Quiet Nights (Columbia, 1963)
With Billy Eckstein

At Basin Street East (EmArcy, 1961) with Quincy Jones
With Gil Evans

New Bottle Old Wine (World Pacific, 1958)
The Individualism of Gil Evans (Verve, 1964)
Blues in Orbit (Enja, 1971)
With Art Farmer

Brass Shout (United Artists, 1959)
With Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes

Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes with French Horns (Status, 1957 [1962])
With Dizzy Gillespie

Gillespiana (Verve, 1960)
With Allen Ginsberg

Songs of Innocence and Experience (MGM, 1970)
With Benny Golson

Benny Golson's New York Scene (Contemporary, 1957)
With Johnny Griffin

Change of Pace (Riverside, 1961)
With Gigi Gryce

Nica's Tempo (Signal, 1955)
With Jimmy Heath

The Quota (Riverside, 1961)
Triple Threat (Riverside, 1962)
Swamp Seed (Riverside, 1963)
With Freddie Hubbard

The Body & the Soul (Impulse!, 1963)
With Milt Jackson

Meet Milt Jackson (Savoy, 1949)
Roll 'Em Bags (Savoy, 1949)
For Someone I Love (Riverside, 1963)
With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (JCOA 1968)
With Quincy Jones

The Birth of a Band! (Mercury, 1959)
The Great Wide World of Quincy Jones (Mercury, 1959)
Q Live in Paris Circa 1960 (Quest, 1960 [1996])
The Birth of a Band! Vol. 2 (Mercury, 1959-60 [1984])
I Dig Dancers (Mercury, 1960)
Around the World (Mercury, 1961)
Newport '61 (Mercury, 1961)
The Great Wide World Of Quincy Jones: Live! (Mercury, 1961 [1984])
The Quintessence (Impulse!, 1962)
Big Band Bossa Nova (Mercury, 1962)
Quincy Jones Plays Hip Hits (Mercury, 1963)
Quincy Plays for Pussycats (Mercury, 1959-65 [1965])
With Thad Jones and Mel Lewis

Consummation (Solid State, 1970)
Suite for Pops (Horizon, 1975)
New Life (Horizon, 1976)
With Beverly Kenney

Come Swing with Me (Roost, 1956)
With Stan Kenton

Cuban Fire! (Capitol Records, 1956)
With Roland Kirk

Left & Right (Atlantic, 1968)
With Michel Legrand

Michel Legrand Big Band Plays Richard Rogers (Phillips, 1963)
With the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars

Swinging Guys and Dolls (Columbia, 1959)
With Herbie Mann

The Herbie Mann String Album (Atlantic, 1967)
With Cal Massey

Blues to Coltrane (Candid, 1961 [1987])
With Mat Mathews

The Modern Art of Jazz by Mat Mathews (Dawn, 1956)
4 French Horns plus Rhythm (Elektra, 1958)
With Charles McPherson

Today's Man (Mainstream, 1973)
With Gil Mellé

Gil's Guests (Prestige, 1963)
With Charles Mingus

Music Written for Monterey 1965 (Jazz Workshop, 1965)
Let My Children Hear Music (Columbia, 1972)
With Blue Mitchell

A Sure Thing (Riverside, 1962)
With Thelonious Monk

Monk (Prestige, 1954)
Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (Prestige, 1954)
With David Newman

The Many Facets of David Newman (Atlantic, 1969)
With Oliver Nelson

Afro/American Sketches (Prestige, 1961)
With Chico O'Farrill

Nine Flags (Impulse!, 1966)
With Oscar Peterson

Bursting Out with the All-Star Big Band! (Verve, 1962)
With Oscar Pettiford

The New Oscar Pettiford Sextet (Debut, 1953)
Oscar Pettiford (Bethlehem, 1954)
The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi (ABC-Paramount, 1956)
The Oscar Pettiford Orchestra in Hi-Fi Volume Two (ABC-Paramount, 1957)
With Johnny Richards

Experiments in Sound (Capitol, 1958)
The Rites of Diablo (Roulette, 1958)
Walk Softly/Run Wild! (Coral, 1959)
With the Riverside Jazz Stars

A Jazz Version of Kean (Riverside, 1962)
With Pete Rugolo

Rugolomania (Columbia, 1955)
New Sounds by Pete Rugolo (Harmony, 1954–55, [1957])
With Pharoah Sanders

Karma (Impulse, 1969)
With George Shearing

Satin Brass (Capitol, 1959)
With Warren Smith

Composer's Workshop Ensemble (Strata-East, 1972)
With Les Spann

Gemini (Jazzland, 1961)
With Billy Taylor

Kwamina (Mercury, 1961)
With Clark Terry

Color Changes (Candid, 1960)
With McCoy Tyner

Song of the New World (Milestone, 1973)
With Randy Weston

Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960)
Highlife (Colpix, 1963)
Tanjah (Polydor, 1973)
With Art Webb

Mr. Flute (Atlantic, 1977)
With Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou's Mass (Mary, 1972 [1975])
With Phil Woods

Rights of Swing (Candid, 1961)