Jeff "Tain" Watts

A prodigiously talented drummer and composer who has captured a Grammy Award, Jeff "Tain" Watts possesses a forceful technical command and a flair for intricate polyrhythmic exchanges alongside robust, propulsive grooves. Although unmistakably personal, his approach reveals deep admiration for Elvin Jones, Tony Williams, and Max Roach. Despite carving out a prominent identity as a bandleader, Watts remains most closely identified with brothers Wynton and Branford Marsalis; he belonged to both ensembles throughout his formative period and contributed to landmark recordings such as Black Codes (From the Underground) and the Grammy-winning I Heard You Twice the First Time. In tandem with Branford he also performed on several Spike Lee film soundtracks, among them Mo' Better Blues, and made an onscreen appearance in that picture. After establishing himself as a leader in the 1990s, he has maintained a balance between sideman engagements—including his participation on the Mingus Big Band’s Grammy-winning 2011 release Live at the Jazz Standard—and his own discography, much of which was tracked at his residential studio housed in a deconsecrated church in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Watts entered the world in 1960 in Easton, Pennsylvania, took up the snare drum at age four, and acquired his first full drum kit during adolescence. Although jazz, funk, rock, fusion, and other vernacular idioms held his interest, he initially pursued a classical-percussion degree at Duquesne University with the goal of becoming a timpanist. Only after relocating in 1979 to Boston’s Berklee School of Music, where he encountered future colleagues Branford Marsalis, Kevin Eubanks, and Donald Harrison, did he commit to a jazz vocation. That friendship with Branford ultimately drew him to New York in 1981, at which point he entered trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ group alongside the saxophonist. Throughout the ensuing decade he toured and recorded with both siblings, appearing on the Grammy Award-winning albums Black Codes (From the Underground), J Mood, and Standard Time, Vol. 1. While traveling with the ensemble he acquired the nickname “Tain,” a truncation of Chieftain bestowed by pianist Kenny Kirkland after the musicians paused at a Chieftain gas station. Additional 1980s credits encompassed Harry Connick, Jr.’s commercially successful When Harry Met Sally soundtrack plus sessions with McCoy Tyner, Robin Eubanks, Sadao Watanabe, and Marlon Jordan.

The 1990s proved equally productive: Watts issued his first album as leader, Megawatts (originally issued in 1993 under the title Thunder and Rainbows), with Kirkland and bassist Charles Fambrough. He sustained his partnership with Branford Marsalis, serving on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and contributing to such notable projects as Crazy People Music, the Grammy-winning I Heard You Twice the First Time, and Buckshot LeFonque. He made his screen debut in Spike Lee’s jazz-centered film Mo' Better Blues and supplied music for its soundtrack. The decade closed with his second leader date, 1999’s Citizen Tain, which featured both Wynton and Branford as well as their brother, trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis.

Into the early 2000s Watts continued dividing his schedule among Branford’s projects, freelance sessions, and his own recordings. Bar Talk, his third leader album, arrived in 2002 and incorporated Branford together with saxophonists Ravi Coltrane and Michael Brecker. The live set Detained at the Blue Note followed in 2004, documenting his quintet of saxophonist Marcus Strickland, pianist Dave Kikoski, guitarist David Gilmore, and bassist Eric Revis. Further sideman work with Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, and Rodney Jones preceded the second quintet outing, 2007’s Folk’s Songs. In 2009 he released both Watts, featuring Terence Blanchard, Branford, and bassist Christian McBride, and The Impaler with the DR Big Band. The quartet album Family appeared in 2011, again showcasing Kikoski along with saxophonist Steve Wilson and bassist James Genus. That same year brought another Grammy for his contribution to the Mingus Big Band’s Live at the Jazz Standard. A year later he collaborated with pianist Makoto Ozone on the ECM recording My Witch's Blue.

Around 2013 Watts returned to Easton, Pennsylvania, converting a former church into a recording facility. Since establishing the studio he has tracked and issued several albums of his own, among them 2015’s Blue, Vol. 1, 2016’s Wattify, and 2016’s Blue, Vol. 2, each reflecting his continuing growth as composer and bandleader. In 2017 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition. The following year he joined saxophonist Rostislav Fraš and pianist Antonio Faraò for Use the Moment.