David Watson (born 1960) is an American musician originally from New Zealand. Watson has lived and worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

since 1987. Originally known as a guitarist, since 1991 Watson's work has also featured new music for the Highland Bagpipes. Before moving to New York, while in New Zealand in the 1980s, Watson co-founded Braille Records to document the local experimental music scene. He organized national improvisation festivals (Off the Deep End, in 1984 and 1985) and in 2001 started the Artspace/alt.music festival to present new experimental music in Auckland. Watson's work includes regular performances with

MacArthur Award The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and 30 individuals workin ...

winner

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

; ongoing recording projects with

Lee Ranaldo Lee Mark Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" li ...

and

Christian Marclay Christian Marclay (born January 11, 1955) is a visual artist and composer. He holds both American and Swiss nationality. Marclay's work explores connections between sound art, noise music, photography, video art, film and digital animations. A p ...

; a premier performance of a

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

work in New York; performances in Europe with rock-minimalism pioneer

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orche ...

; a recording project with

Jonathan Kane Jonathan Kane (born November 4, 1956) is an American musician and composer. Coming out of New York's Downtown No Wave music scene of the early 1980s, Kane is known for his work with minimalist composers La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham, and was ...

; performances with

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

and a score for Jeremy Nelson Dance. Watson released his disc ''Throats'' - with vocalists Makigami Koichi and

Shelley Hirsch Shelley Hirsch (born June 9, 1952 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York) is an American vocalist, performance artist, composer, improviser, and writer. She won a DAAD Residency Grant in Berlin 1992, a Prix Futura award in 1993, and multiple award ...

- on

Ecstatic Peace Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonfiction novel '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid ...

; and a double CD ''Fingering an Idea'', on

Phill Niblock Phillip Earl Niblock (October 2, 1933 – January 8, 2024) was an American composer, filmmaker, and videographer. In 1985, he was appointed director of Experimental Intermedia,Alan Licht, ''Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Music ...

's XI Records to critical acclaim. Together with Tony Buck and Ranaldo he formed the band

Glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

. In 2010, Ranaldo released the solo album ''Maelstrom From Drift'' on Three Lobed Recordings with guest appearances of Tony Buck and David Watson. Glacial released ''On Jones Beach'' In 2012.

Discography

* ''Reference'' (LP, Album), Braille Records 1986 * David Watson / Jim Denley / Rik Rue / Amanda Stewart /

Ikue Mori (born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022. Biography Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She sa ...

- ''Bit-Part Actor'' (CD), Braille Records, 1996 * ''Skirl'' (CD), 1999 * David Watson with

and Makigami Koichi - ''Throats'' (CD, Album),

Ecstatic Peace! Ecstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 by American musician Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. The label name is borrowed from a line in Tom Wolfe's 1968 nonfiction novel '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid ...

2007 * ''Fingering An Idea'' (2xCD, Album), XI Records, 2007 * Frode Gjerstad,

Kevin Norton Kevin Norton (born January 21, 1956) is an American percussionist and composer active in the New York City jazz and contemporary music scenes. He has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians, including Anthony Braxton, Paul Dunmal ...

, David Watson - ''Tipples'' (CD, Album),

FMR Records FMR Records is a British record label. Founded by Trevor Taylor in 1987, it specialises in jazz and improvised music. Origins Taylor is a drummer and percussionist who became increasingly interested in avant garde music. In the early 1970s he ...

(2), 2011 * Glacial - ''On Jones Beach'', LP Three Lobed Recordings, 2012 * TiPPLE (Frode Gjerstad, Kevin Norton, Watson), ''No Sugar On Anything'' (2013) * TiPPLE, ''Live At Elastic Arts'' (2015) * TiPPLE, ''Cartoon Heart'' ( Relative Pitch Records, 2020)

References

External links

David Watson discography
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

David Watson profile
at

Forced Exposure ''Forced Exposure'' was an independent music magazine founded by Jimmy Johnson and Katie The Kleening Lady (Goldman) (zine). It was published sporadically out of Boston from 1982 to 1993, edited by Jimmy Johnson and Byron Coley. It was printed o ...

David Watson
at XI Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, David 1960 births Living people American people of New Zealand descent American male musicians American bagpipe players New Zealand composers American composers Date of birth missing (living people)