Today in rock history, in 1941, Charlie Watts was born Charles Robert Watts in London, England. As well as being my namesake, Charlie is one of my favorite rock drummers, which is odd, since he really doesn't consider himself a rock drummer; his tastes have always run to jazz and R&B. No matter where his interests lie, he has always been an integral part of the Rolling Stones; guitarist Keith Richards went so far as to say in a 2005 Guitar Player magazine interview that the Rolling Stones would not be, or could not continue as, the Rolling Stones without Watts. An example of Watts's importance was demonstrated in 1993, after Bill Wyman had left the band. After auditioning several bassists, Jagger and Richards asked Watts to choose the new bass player; he selected the respected session musician Darryl Jones, who had previously been a sideman for both Miles Davis and Sting. Lately, "Watts At Scott's" was recorded with his group, The Charlie Watts Tentet, at the famous jazz club in London, Ronnie Scott's. In April 2009 he started to do concerts with "The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie" together with pianists Axel Zwingenberger and Ben Waters plus his childhood friend Dave Green on bass. Charlie has always been, to my mind, a minimalist, less-is-more kind of drummer, illustrated here by his use of the "traditional grip," his hi-hat work, and in his approach to "Gimme Shelter." Glad to see ol' Charlie is still doin' it at age 69! Thanks to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Watts for the info, and keep on rockin'!
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I remember a conversation I had with a soon-to-be high school girlfriend when we ran into each other while out back sneaking a smoke during lunch with all the other bad kids. I said i'd just bought a copy of Grand Funk's cover of Gimme Shelter, but it was missing something. And she said, well yeah, it's missing Charlie Watts -- it doesn't have any of that boom-boom-boom-cymbal riff at all. And I went home that night and listened to the Grand Funk & Stones versions back to back ... and she was right; that was the killer difference. And so of course I was smitten and began to chase her! :-)
He's the only drummer I've ever seen who does the syncopated beats in sync with the bass drum - hard to explain; remind me to demonstrate some time...hope you're having, well, not too sucky a time in Chi-town this week...we're gone on the big bike ride this weekend, so I'll touch base with you Sunday afternoon/night...
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