"Too many fine musicians have been killed in automobile accidents. Clifford Brown, Richie Powell, Stan Haaselgard, Willie Dennis, Eddie Costa ar just some. There are many more. Charlie Parker was lucky to escape with his life in a car crash at the age of 16. Doug Watkins, a superb bassist, had no such luck. In the early hours of February 5, 1962, Doug fell asleep at the wheel of his own car near Holbrook, Arizona. The automobile crossed the highway and rammed head on into an upcoming pick-up truck. Trumpeter Bill Hardman and saxophonist Roland Alexander stepped from the wreck unhurt but Doug Watkins was dead. So ended a brief and brilliant career; the jazz world mourned the loss of one of its most promising young men to what has become an occupational hazard.
"Watkins was born in Detroit on March 2, 1934. He studied at the famous Cass Tech High School where his schoolmates included Paul Chambers (a cousin by marriage) and Donald Byrd. By the age of 16 Doug was studying hard with Gaston Brohan and already doing gigs with pianist Barry Harris. In the summer of 1953 he got his first out-of-town job with the James Moody Band but never actually recorded with the group. He returned to Detroit later and rejoined Barry Harris' Trio which for the next year backed a whole host of visiting stars including Charlie Parker, Stan Getz and Coleman Hawkins.
"In August of 1954 Doug was ready to try New York so he packed his bag and split for the Apple. His first gigs there were with trumpeter Kenny Dorham, a great talent spotter, and through Kenny he was introduced to Art Blakey, Horace Silver and Hank Mobley. These five men soon formed a musical alliance which grew into the Jazz Messengers. The group made its debut at the Blue Notes, Philadelphia, in February, 1955. The following month the unit, minus Dorham, recorded for Blue Note (they had already done a sessions in November, 1954, which produced classics like 'Doodlin'' and 'Creepin' In'). Later in the year, the band was frequently to be heard at the Café Bohemia where two albums by the Messengers were taped 'live' in November.
"The exposure with Blakey, and subsequently in the Horace Silver Quintet, formed in June, 1956, earned Watkins an enviable reputation. He was soon getting his fair share of calls for record dates and all manner of gigs. In the following five years he worked with Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Gene Ammons, Sonny Rollins, Pepper Adams, John Coltrane, Paul Quinichette, Chet Baker and many others. He was often to be found with his old friend Byrd and was a member of the quintet the trumpeter took to Paris in late summer, 1958. This outfit, completed by Bobby Jaspar (tenor & flute), Walter Davis Jr. (piano) and Art Taylor (drums) made records on the Continent and played several big festivals. The association with Byrd continued on and off until Doug's death but in the last three years of his life he freelanced widely. A particular favorite of McLean, Watkins worked with Jackie many times also and appeared on several of the saxophonist's albums for Prestige and Blue Note. Doug had an impeccable beat, a real bass sound that would cut through an ensemble without the aid of microphones. Like the English bassist Peter Ind, he got that tone by holding the note down with the left hand and not wasting energy by plucking too hard. Says Ind, 'Most bass players think that if they pull harder with their right hand they're going to get a bigger sound whereas the secret of a sound is in the left hand - that's where you really stop the notes. You can pluck it lightly and it will sing out a mile if you've got the not held down.' You rarely, if ever, hear Watkins' strings vibrating or rattling because he was not one of the 'meaty hands' brigade'.
"Another gift Watkins had was his ability to play exactly the right note in a chord to complement the soloist; he would never clash with what the man up front was doing. He combined well with many different drummers and when his chance to solo came he really took care of business. Doug was not influenced by the style of playing which Scott LaFaro developed in the late 1950s - soloing behind soloists and using extensively the top notes on his strings. When Watkins played it, the bass sounded like a bass. His favorite players were Percy Heath, Ray Brown and Slam Stewart and he came out of that tradition of playing.
"On this album, one of the two made under Watkins' leadership, he does not play bass at all, being featured on cello. He never used it again on record which is a pity because he could have developed into a damn good jazz cellist too. It had always been one of Doug's ambitions to play the cello. Three days before this date, a cello player lent him his instrument. And this was actually the first time he had played it. Watkins told Ira Gitler, 'I usually do these tuned on bass but I wanted a different sound. To me, the cello gets a tone between guitar and piano.' It must be admitted that Watkins on cello was not really comparable, at this stage, with Watkins the bassist. But there is no doubt that Doug took to the instrument right away, just as Oscar Pettiford had done before him. While with Woody Herman, Pettiford fooled around with a cello one day in a music store and that night used it on stage when his moment came to solo! Herman, who knew nothing about this in advance, was flabbergasted. The fingering is not the same on the two instruments, and the positions are smaller. To musicians of the stature of Watkins and Pettiford the technicalities were unimportant; they were just natural players.
"For this date Watkins used several friends from his Detroit days. Pianist Hugh Lawson and bassist Herman Wright are two more products of Cass Tech and both men went to Wayne University, of which multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef is another alumnus.
"Lateef plays all his chosen instruments fluently. He did not take his tenor sax to this particular session but alternated with flute and oboe. His flute playing ranks with James Moody's as the most consistent and enjoyable in jazz. He also wails on oboe with power and distinction.
"Always ready to experiment with different instruments, Lateef brings to all his horns great imagination and personality. He is a boss swinger. Lawson has worked with Yusef a great deal through the years. He was in Lateef's group on a regular basis from 1956-60 and has recorded with him several times since. Laweson is one of three outstanding pianists who emerged from Detroit during the fifties. The others were Barry Harris and Tommy Flanagan. Lawson occasionally reminds one of Barry and Tommy, especially the former, but he is really his own man.
"Wright is a steady and reliable bassist, equally facile as an accompanist and soloist. He too has often worked with Lateef and in addition his experience includes stints with James Moody, Sonny Stitt, Terry Gibbs, Billy Mitchel, Terry Pollard and George Shearing. Drummer Lex Humphries has no Detroit associations except that he played the same kind of music as the Detroiters. Lex was born in Rockaway, New York, and, though self-taught, was good enough to play in the groups of Chet Baker and Dizzy Gillespie in the 1950s. In the next decade he was heard with the Farmer/Golson Jazztet, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Duke Pearson and McCoy Tyner. On this recording he plays with brushes throughout and blends in perfectly.
"Half of the material for the session was contributed by Lateef. It is his blues, 'One Guy', which starts the proceedings. The theme is stated in unison by flute and cello. Watkins gets around his unfamiliar axe with apparent east. Lateef takes six choruses, displaying his groovy flute stylings. After a Lawson solo that certainly does bring Barry Harris to mind, Wright plucks three. When Lateef comes back, Doug weaves in and out of the bass and flute lines.
"'Confessin'' is an oldie and a goodie. Doug was definitely not confessin' that he couldn't play cello because he states the melody all by himself. Yusef offers a lovely flute floater and Doug digs it so much he puts in some apt little background comments from time to time. Being a bassist himself, he is careful not to foul up Herman's flow. Doug's own solo is not perfect; there are one or two blemishes, a couple of sour notes, but the essential jazz feeling is there in his adventurous improvisation. Lawson takes an excellent solo and exhibits his pianistic touch.
"'Soulnik', a wry Lateef title that combined the 1960 preoccupations with sputniks and soul, is another blues that walks in on a foot-patting medium tempo. This time Yusef has the oboe in his hands and after Watkins has spun his blue web, Lateef comes swooping down from overhead like a night owl. His sound is eerie and lonely and his solo, as Ira Gitler commented, is 'pregnant with feeling'. Lawson and Wright keep up the good work and Humphries, who drums splendidly on this track, makes the optimum use of his opportunities in the fours section.
"'Andre's Bag' has both the melancholy and fire of mid-European folk music. But after Watkins' haunting melody statement which is aided by discreet prompts from Lawson, the jazz atmosphere is established. Yusef gives a little cry on flute and then the motor (Herman and Lex) starts to turn smoothly under Doug. A purring flute contribution by Yusef follows. Humphries slightly stiffens the beat to add a spice of tension to Lawson's effort. Lex is the last soloist and the theme, with a bridge not unlike that in 'A Night in Tunisia', does not re-appear. The cut fades with Doug and Yusef singing their own song.
"'I Remember You' is a good tune that Bird used to like playing. He recorded it too and so have a number of other jazzmen, including trumpeter Red Rodney. In this brisk version, cello and flute spit the theme. The order is Doug, Yusef (pure and pulsating), Lawson (fresh and flowing). Doug returns for half a chorus and Yusef resumes the melodic thread over the bridge with Watkins carrying the performance out on a neo-bop closing figure.
"By way of a change, this particular set concludes with a slow tempo treatment of 'Imagination', a title that describes a quality all the participants shared. Yusef tenderly unwraps the melody with Doug complementing the process. Watkins takes a solo of considerable warmth and grace. Lateef steals in gently as Doug and Herman pluck and bow the piece to an emotional ending. Watkins has the last word with one of Bird's favourite licks.
"Doug Watkins came before the era of electric bass and solo-mad bass players. He was still a young man and would probably have experimented with electric models but I kind of think regular bass would have stayed his first love. However he might have done more with the cello. He told Gitler he wanted to 'go into it more deeply'. Unfortunately, in the 21 months he had left Doug never did do anymore cello playing, on record at least. Time ran out on that highway which should have taken Doug to San Francisco and a reunion with Elmo Hope and Philly Joe Jones, whose group he was to have joined at the Jazz Workshop. 'Down Beat' but it succinctly in its March 15, 1962 headline. 'THE ROAD CLAIMS ANOTHER VICTIM.' And jazz lost a true craftsman who, whether on bass or cello, played with -imagination-.
"Pianist Norman Simmons, discussing the advances made on bass in the last few years, said recently, 'The jazz player today has advanced that instrument to unbelievable degrees. However he is somewhat like the drummer in the attention he gives to the newness of his development. The problem being with both that they tend to relinquish any responsiblity for the pulse of the music.'
"Though a young man, Doug Watkins was musically very mature and could have coped with the problem of being responsible and progressive at the same time. Simmons added, 'This is the upright bassist's day; he deserves it.' Too bad that Doug Watkins, one of the best bassists of his generation, did not live to see that day." (Mark Gardner, October 1970. From the liner notes to the 1970 Prestige reissue.)
Performers: Doug Watkins (cello), Yusef Lateef (fl/ob), Hugh Lawson (pi), Hermann Wright (bs), Lex Humphries (dr)
A1. One Guy
A2. Confessin'
A3. Soulnik
B1. Andre's Bag
B2. I Remember You
B3. Imagination
