Working with one of the 'Greatest Sax Players' of all time!

Ernie Watts

Many of you may not know this man, but you've definitely heard him on many of your recordings. Mr. Ernie Watts. I knew about Ernie, because I've read album credits most of my life. I would hear this sax solo on a Gino Vanelli record, or The Jacksons record and look to see who it was and consistently it was Ernie Watts.

Ernie's superb sax work has graced many albums by artist diverse as Barbara Streisand, The Crusaders, Christopher Cross, Boz Scaggs, Rickie Lee Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire, SWITCH, etc, etc, etc.

I was very familiar with Ernie's work like I said and when SWITCH recorded their first album Jermaine Jackson called Ernie to come and play on our recordings. The saxophone solo on "I Wanna Be Closer" one of SWITCH'S biggest hits is Mr. Ernie Watts. Like I said, you've heard him but many of you may not know who he is.

Ernie Watts - "Chariots Of Fire"

Ernie ended up playing on a number of SWITCH records so I got to know him over the years. In 1982 Qunicy Jones produced an album on Ernie Watts called "Chariots of Fire" 
My brother James called Howard Hewitt and myself in to sing backgrounds on Ernie's album. It was my first time meeting Quincy Jones and it was nice to have 3 guys from Akron, Ohio all working together on the same project.

But more importantly it was also nice to be able to sing backgrounds on Ernie's record since he was such a part of of SWITCH'S career. James, Howard and myself ended up singing 2 songs on this project.

The Dude Tour 1982

After singing on Ernie's project in the early part of 1982 later that summer when Quincy Jones was doing "The Dude" tour we were all together again.

I sang backgrounds on that tour with Edie Leighman and Phil Perry and Ernie was one of the horn players in the band. If you look at the picture on the left, you can see Ernie with the sun glasses on in the upper right hand corner.

Ernie has always been a gentleman, very nice and very unassuming.

Ernie doing what he does best

It would be years before I ran into Ernie again. The last time I saw Ernie was when we worked with Quincy Jones again at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2011 with "60 Years Of Quincy Jones". Ernie was part of the horn section and I was singing backgrounds on that concert. (I wrote about that concert on this BLOG, back in September 11, 2011)

Even after all these years Ernie is still the same. It was an honor to meet him back in 1977 / 1978 when he first played on "I Wanna Be Closer", but over the years he's remained, one of the greatest Sax players of all time. (Ernie Watts)


 Until Next Time - Phillip