Charlie Watts & The Charlie Watts Orchestra
Biographie Charlie Watts & The Charlie Watts Orchestra
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert Watts was born on June 2, 1941 and grew up in Wembley, north London. Long before the advent of rock’n’roll, Watts was listening to jazz records by the likes of Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker and cited ‘Walking Shoes,’ by the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan with Chico Hamilton on drums, as the record that made him determined to become a drummer. He was 12 at the time. Charlie Watts was the engine of the “greatest rock’n’roll band in the world”. His immaculate drumming propelled the Rolling Stones with a driving rhythm that never missed a beat in almost sixty years, playing on all twenty-six Rolling Stones studio albums since 1964. Drummer, artist, aficionado and style icon with a deadpan wit, his undemonstratively reassuring presence was a key ingredient in the group’s chemistry. Charlie’s first and most enduring passion was jazz and when not on tour with the Stones he enjoyed touring with his own jazz combo.
Watts made his first appearance with The Rolling Stones in January 1963 at the Flamingo club in London’s Soho. Watts’ jazz background meant he knew how to roll as well as how to rock and his indestructible beat grounded the Stones’ classic pop hits such as ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,’ ‘Get Off My Cloud,’ ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ and ‘Paint It Black.’
Although he had made his name in rock as an essential part of the ‘Greatest Rock n Roll band in the world’, his personal tastes were principally in his first love - jazz. In the late 1970s, Charlie joined Stones sideman Ian Stewart in the boogie-woogie band Rocket 88. In the 1980s, he toured worldwide with the Charlie Watts Big Band, which included such names as Evan Parker, Courtney Pine and Jack Bruce. 1993 saw the release of Warm & Tender by the Charlie Watts Quintet, which included vocalist Bernard Fowler. In 1989, with the rest of the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009, Charlie began playing with the ABC&D of Boogie Woogie band with the pianist Axel Zwingenberger, the pianist and vocalist Ben Waters, and the bassist Dave Green. In 2006, Watts was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame by Modern Drummer magazine, joining Steve Gadd, Buddy Rich, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and other highly esteemed and influential drummers from the history of rock and jazz.
