Early life
Watrous was born on June 8, 1939, in Middletown, Connecticut. His father, a trombonist and bandleader, started him on the instrument as a boy, and he grew up listening closely to Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey and J.J. Johnson. The warmth of the first two and the precision of the third can both be heard in his mature playing.
Career
His first prominent work came as a sideman with Kai Winding, and through the 1960s he played and recorded with Maynard Ferguson, Quincy Jones and Woody Herman. In the 1970s he formed the Manhattan Wildlife Refuge Big Band, whose 1975 album The Tiger of San Pedro became the record most closely associated with his name.
“The title track became a defining piece for Watrous.”
He later settled in Los Angeles, where he was in steady demand for film, television and commercial sessions, and joined the faculty of the University of Southern California.
Technique
Watrous was known above all for doodle-tonguing, a legato articulation that let him play rapid passages with unusual smoothness and clarity. Joined to an even tone across a very wide range, it gave his solos an ease that disguised how difficult they were. He died on July 2, 2018; his recordings remain standard listening for students of the instrument.
