Ken Watters is an American jazz trumpeter residing in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

. He is the brother of noted jazz trombonist, Harry Watters. Ken has performed and/or recorded with

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

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Wyclef Jean Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, a ...

Natalie Cole Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...

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, Chris Potter

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, the Vanguard Orchestra, and a host of other luminaries of the music world. He attended the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, where he participated in the famed Lab Band program and studied trumpet with internationally renowned teacher

Leonard Candelaria Leonard Candelaria is an American trumpeter and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama. Until Fall 2009, he served as Professor of Trumpet and Artist in Residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham ( UAB). Prior to his appointment at UAB, ...

. Later, Ken pursued further trumpet studies at Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he also studied with

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and

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

. Ken's most recent CD release was by his own Haitian-Caribbean influenced jazz septet, RIYEL. The group's self-titled debut CD was released internationally on Summit Records

& climbed to #2 on the

JazzWeek ''JazzWeek,'' is a jazz magazine that was co-founded by Ed Trefzger in August 2001. ''Jazzweek'' publishes industry news and a weekly top 100 ranking of music played by jazz radio stations. Collection Method Originally, the company gathered its o ...

World Music Charts. His latest musical project is an ongoing venture co-led alongside vocalist Ingrid Felts, called "Watters-Felts Project.” The jazz-oriented sextet, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is made up of six of the most in-demand musicians in the southeast, including pianist Keith Taylor, bassist Abe Becker, percussionist Darrell Tibbs, drummer Marcus Pope, plus Felts & Watters. Ken is currently an adjunct professor at University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he directs the UAH Jazz Ensemble I.

Discography

*The Jungle (1986) *Brothers* (1999) *Brothers II* (2000) *Southern Exposure (2001) *Brothers III* (2003) *RIYEL (2010)

External links

Ken Watters’ on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/ken.watters.7
American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Living people Musicians from Atlanta 1964 births 21st-century trumpeters 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Summit Records artists
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