Biography
A composer at ease across classical and jazz idioms, Watkins refuses to confine herself to any single genre. Blues, gospel, country/folk, and pop currents surface naturally in her music, while her skills as composer, arranger, pianist, and producer find expression in scores written for symphony orchestras, chamber groups, cinema, and stage productions. She was born in Denver and began structured lessons at age four; by eight she was already improvising and creating brief piano works. After earning a music-composition degree from Howard University in 1972, she played jazz combos in the Washington, D.C., region, relocated to the West Coast, and formed her own quartet. A string of albums, commissions, and honors followed. Among her principal works are the jazz score for the musical Lady Lester Sings the Blues, drawn from the life of Lester Young, and The Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie, her jazz reworking of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet.
Albums
