Eric Watson (born July 5, 1955) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist.

Early life and education

Watson was born in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...

. He began playing piano as a child and performed in

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

bands in Massachusetts. He studied classical music at the

Oberlin Conservatory of Music The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

Career

After graduating from college in 1978, Watson moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he performed jazz and classical music and worked as an accompanist for a dance group. is signed to a long-term recording contract with

ACT Music ACT is a German record label founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT + Music Video founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz label, ...

. He has worked with double bass player John Lindberg, drummer

Ed Thigpen Edmund Leonard Thigpen (December 28, 1930 – January 13, 2010) was an American jazz drummer, best known for his work with the Oscar Peterson trio from 1959 to 1965. Thigpen also performed with the Billy Taylor trio from 1956 to 1959. Biograp ...

, and Steve Lacy.

Discography

* ''Bulls Blood'' (1980) * ''Conspiracy'' (1982) * ''Child in the Sky'' (1985) * Piano One (1985) * ''Your Tonight Is My Tomorrow'' (1987) * ''Charles Ives'' (1991) * ''Palimpseste'' (1991) * ''Listen to the Night'' (1994) * ''Punk Circus'' (1994) * ''Silent Hearts'' (1999) * ''Full Metal Quartet'' (2000) * ''Sketches of Solitude'' (2002) * ''Road Movies'' (2004) * ''Midnight Torsion'' (2009) * ''Memories of Paris'' (2010) With Steve Lacy *''

Spirit of Mingus ''Spirit of Mingus''is a live album by soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy and pianist Eric Watson, which was recorded in Paris in 1991 and first released on the Free Lance label in 1992.

'' (Free Lance, 1992) *''

Clangs ''Clangs'' is a live album by soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy featuring a double sextet, which was recorded in Germany in 1992 and released on the Swiss hat ART label in 1993.

'' (hat ART, 1993)

References

External links and sources

* http://nfo.net/calendar/jul05.htm * http://www.actmusic.com/artist_detail.php?bio=1&manufacturers_id=28 Mainstream jazz pianists American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists American jazz pianists American jazz composers American male jazz composers 20th-century classical composers 1955 births Living people Avant-garde jazz pianists ACT Music artists People from Wellesley, Massachusetts Oberlin Conservatory of Music alumni American male classical composers American classical composers 20th-century American composers 20th-century American pianists Jazz musicians from Massachusetts Classical musicians from Massachusetts 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists Sunnyside Records artists 20th-century jazz composers {{US-jazz-pianist-stub