Monday,
10 July, 2000
Watts New?
Charlie Watts joined legendary
rock band The Rolling Stones in January 1963. Despite the band's
fast living image, Watts has always nurtured a love of jazz
music, and has released several critically acclaimed solo albums.
The most recent of these, The Charlie Watts / Jim Keltner
Project, is a tribute to some of the great jazz drummers,
and is his first album since 1996's Long Ago and Far Away.
Outlook talked to Charlie Watts about his long career
and the influences behind his latest album.
The Early Days
Charlie
Watts' long musical career began with the London based group
Blues Inc. in the early 1960s, with Alexis Korner and Brian
Jones. Former schoolfriends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards made
occasional appearances with the band. By 1962, Jagger, Richards
and Jones left to form The Rolling Stones, named after a Muddy
Waters song. Within a year, Charlie Watts agreed to join them,
and in May 1963 the band signed to Decca Records. Coming
from a different background to the other members, Watts says
"I learned to like certain people who played a thing called
'Rock and Roll', but I missed out a lot on it."
The Rolling Stones first reached Number One in the UK with their
fourth single, It's All Over Now, in the spring of 1964.
Later that year they broke into the US Top 40 with Tell Me
(You're Coming Back), and in 1965 they had hits with Time
Is On My Side, The Last Time and (I Can't Get
No) Satisfaction.
Rock and Roll Lifestyles
The Rolling Stones' popularity soared in the late 1960s, with
the band achieving notoriety both for their music and their
off-stage exploits. At the time of release of the controversial
Let's Spend The Night Together, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
and Brian Jones were all arrested on drug possession charges.
Before the end of the decade, Brian Jones left the band, and
was found dead in his swimming pool soon after.
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| "I've
never been like [the other Rolling Stones]...
They never sat listening to a piano player all night
like I did as a kid." |
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Despite
the fast-paced lifestyle of the band around him, Watts managed
to stay in the background, commanding respect from his contemporaries
and staying married since 1966. Watts says of the other members
of the Stones:
"I've never been like them...They never sat listening to
a piano player all night like I did as a kid."
By the 1980s, the band were releasing albums less frequently,
but continued to tour regularly. The most recent Rolling Stones
tour was in support of their 1997 Bridges to Babylon
album, and they still play to large crowds.
"From the day I joined them, we had five people like
us, the next week we had ten, and it's grown. Now it's unbelievable
that you can still just say you're playing somewhere and Wembley
Stadium will fill up."
The Project
Four years after his last solo album, Watts has joined forces
with another drummer, Jim Keltner, to record a tribute to the
great jazz drummers. Jim Keltner is a highly respected studio
drummer, who has previously worked with Crosby, Still, Nash
& Young, Joe Cocker and the Rolling Stones.
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| "It's
exactly how I play, but the actual making of it,
and certainly the instrumentation, is nothing like
I've ever made before." |
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The
Project album was conceived and initially recorded while
the Stones were recording their Bridges to Babylon album.
Watts recalls:
"It's exactly how I play, but the actual making of it,
and certainly the instrumentation is nothing like I've ever
made before. I was in the studio for two months, but this was
just two weeks while they were overdubbing. We had this brilliant
idea to save money: We were going to overdub as we went along,
so we took over another studio. We spent two weeks in there,
hence Mick [Jagger]'s on one of these, the first one
we did."
The song titles are named after jazz drummers of the past and
present, including Art Blakey, Roy Haynes and Tony Williams.
Despite this, the songs have not been recorded in their subjects'
styles. Watts says,
"It's a very abstract thing. These are just eight of
my 200 favourite drummers."
The CD has been released in a special edition featuring remixes
by contemporary artists such as Coldcut, The Propellorheads
and Eat Static.
The Future
One question that is always asked of the Rolling Stones is when
they will retire. Having started the band as young men, they
have been playing together for over 35 years. Watts comments:
"I hope it stops very naturally, I would hate it to
end up with some stupid management argument or something silly
like that. I hope we just say "Well, that was it, thankyou"
or "I think we've got to an age where it just looks silly."
I think that's going to happen... but we'll probably all keel
over half dead!"
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| Further
Listening |
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Charlie
Watts Solo Albums:
Live at Fulham Town Hall, 1986;
From One Charlie, 1991;
A Tribute To Charlie Parker With Strings,
1992;
Warm And Tender, 1993;
Long Ago And Far Away, 1996;
Charlie Watts And Jim Keltner Project,
2000 |
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Listen
to the interview on Outlook 
