Leo Watson (February 27, 1898 – May 2, 1950) was 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 majo ...

vocalese Vocalese is a style of jazz singing in which words are added to an instrumental soloist's improvisation. Definition Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsen ...

singer, drummer,

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

and

tiple A tiple (, literally treble or soprano), is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a ''tiplista''. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although ma ...

player. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, and is probably best remembered as a member of

The Spirits of Rhythm Spirits of Rhythm were an American jazz string band. The ensemble's members had previously played under several other names (The Sepia Nephews, Ben Bernie's Nephews, The Five Cousins), and upon adding Teddy Bunn as guitarist in 1932, the group b ...

small group, which included guitarist Teddy Bunn. Watson also worked briefly with a variety of

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

s, including those of

Gene Krupa Eugene Bertram Krupa (January 15, 1909 – October 16, 1973), known as Gene Krupa, was an American jazz drummer, bandleader and composer who performed with energy and showmanship. His drum solo on Benny Goodman's 1937 recording of " Sing, Sing, ...

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

and

Jimmy Mundy James Mundy (June 28, 1907 – April 24, 1983) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and composer, best known for his arrangements for Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Earl Hines. Mundy died of cancer in New York City at the age of 7 ...

. Watson also provided the (uncredited) voice for Prince Chawmin' in the cartoon ''

Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs ''Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs'' is a 1943 ''Merrie Melodies'' animated cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The short was released on January 16, 1943. The film is an all-black parody of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale ''Snow White'', known to its ...

'' (directed by

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' T ...

, 1943), one of the racially objectionable

Censored Eleven The Censored Eleven is a group of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that were withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the di ...

; primary voice artist

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

's contract only allowed for his solo credit. In a 1969 ''Funnyworld'' interview conducted by

Michael Barrier Michael J. Barrier (born June 15, 1940) is an American animation historian. Work Barrier was the founder and editor of ''Funnyworld'', the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha ...

and Milton Gray, Bob Clampett recalled Watson's name erroneously as ''Zoot Watson''; thus, Leo Watson himself went uncredited for his work in the cartoon for almost forty more years. Finally, Australian voice artist and

animation historian While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home entertai ...

Keith Scott discovered his name correctly in the

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Archives.

References

External links

* Leo Watsonat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

1898 births 1950 deaths American jazz singers American jazz drummers Vocalese singers Swing drummers Swing trombonists Scat singers American jazz ensembles 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century trombonists 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Spirits of Rhythm members The Washboard Rhythm Kings members American jazz trombonists {{US-jazz-trombonist-stub