Welcome to the table,
The comic shop I spent most of my formative years in was filled with music. The owner had one of those CD players that, I kid you not, held something like 100+ CDs and there were easily thousands of hours of music in the store ready to be unleashed at any given time. I learned about Getting Lost in the Super Market and Sympathy For the Devil in ways that felt scholarly. It was like having a sage with an encyclopedic knowledge of bands and performers give you lessons on things that even the deepest of dives into YouTube could never hope to provide.
Not only did it make me feel like I had become privy to this secret lore of sound, but moreover it provided me with a deeper appreciation of things I would have never sought out on my own or listened to. I know enough, thanks to those days, to know I don’t know much of anything, but I can speak about what I like. Charlie Watts‘ drumming is something I like.
The first extensive anthology drawn from the bespoke jazz catalog of one of the world’s most admired drummers, the legendary Charlie Watts, will be released by BMG on June 30th.
Anthology will be available both in double vinyl and double CD editions and is a testament to the “other” musical identity of the giant who underpinned The Rolling Stones for more than 55 years.
It draws on a nearly 20-year period in Watts’ substantial catalog of jazz recordings in various configurations, including quartet, quintet, tentet, and orchestra. The collection is both the perfect memento of a unique artist for long-time devotees and the perfect introduction for new admirers.
I’ve been the one in the room who is worried that jazz is inaccessible, but looking at the track list for Anthology, this is going to be a wonderful cross-section for those who just enjoy good sound and solid vibes.
I am nowhere near the sonic masterminds that shared their knowledge with me between bites of pizza and flips of comic pages, but I do know that this seems to be something that both those keenly in-tuned song sages, and also someone as unenlightened as myself, could enjoy together without feeling lost.
Anthology is a celebration of the faultlessly tasteful and inventive playing of a true inspiration to millions, who generously diverted the spotlight onto his brilliant, hand-picked collaborators. Across Anthology, these include such greats as his lifelong friend and double bass stalwart Dave Green, saxophonists such as Peter King, Evan Parker, and Courtney Pine, trumpeter Gerard Presencer, fellow drum titan Jim Keltner and vocalist and Rolling Stones live band member Bernard Fowler.
You can pre-order Anthology at the link below
Pre-Order Link
This retrospective begins in 1986, when Watts had his own name on an album for the first time – with typical modesty, some 25 years after his drumming first became the talk of his peers – on Live At Fulham Town Hall. It then features selections from the Charlie Watts Quintet‘s 1991 mini-album From One Charlie, their albums A Tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings (1992), Warm and Tender (1993) and Long Ago and Far Away (1996), the 2000 collaboration Charlie Watts – Jim Keltner Project and another live set, 2004’s Watts at Scott’s, as the Charlie Watts Tentet.
The expanded CD track listing is further augmented by the inclusion of three sought-after tracks from a performance by Watts and his group at Swindon Arts Centre, featuring versions of Rockhouse Boogie, Ain’t Nobody Minding Your Store, and Swindon Swing.
These three unreleased tracks have me super excited. Long gone are the days I spent in that shop. It’s not even open anymore. However, the joy I know it would have brought if I could have wheeled in carrying the CD set to play in the middle of the day and discuss what we all took away from it brought a smile to my face.
Anthology also features liner notes by music journalist and broadcaster Paul Sexton, the author of Charlie’s Good Tonight: The Authorised Biography of Charlie Watts, published by HarperCollins.
Until next time, it can be really hard to branch out with music. Sometimes stuff just does not hit right or you don’t hear the things that people are telling you about or saying you should hear. It’s okay to ask questions and tell people something is just not for you. I learned more about music and what I liked by speaking up than I ever did just nodding along like I understood what was happening. Some of the best moments in life come after you ask a question.
Welcome to the table, The comic shop I spent most of my formative years in was filled with music. TheCOMICONRead More