Douglas Watkins (March 2, 1934 – February 5, 1962) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

double bassist. He was best known for being an accompanist to various hard bop artists in the Detroit area, including

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few h ...

and

Jackie McLean John Lenwood McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator. He is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their death. Bio ...

Biography

Watkins was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States. An original member of the Jazz Messengers, he later played in

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

's quintet and freelanced with

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R ...

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige Records, Prestige, Blue Note, Verve Records, Verve, CTI Records, CTI, Muse Records, Muse, and Concord Records, Conco ...

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, doub ...

, Hank Mobley,

Lee Morgan Edward Lee Morgan (July 10, 1938 – February 19, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter and composer. One of the key hard bop musicians of the 1960s and a cornerstone of the Blue Note Records, Blue Note label, Morgan came to prominence in his la ...

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

, and

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began t ...

among others. Some of Watkins' best-known work can be heard, when as a 22-year-old, he appeared on the 1956 album '' Saxophone Colossus'' by tenor saxophonist

, with

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He wo ...

and Tommy Flanagan. According to

's autobiography, ''Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty'', Watkins, along with Silver, later left Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers because the other members of the band at the time (

Kenny Dorham McKinley Howard "Kenny" Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and occasional singer. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention ...

, Hank Mobley and Blakey) had serious drug problems, whereas Watkins and Silver were tired of being harassed and searched by the police every time they went to a gig in a new city and club. When

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

briefly ventured over to the piano stool in 1961, he hired Watkins to take over the bass part; '' Oh Yeah'' and '' Tonight at Noon'' were the results. Watkins recorded only two albums as leader: ''Watkins at Large'' for Transition; and '' Soulnik'' for New Jazz. The latter, recorded in 1960, with

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in the United States. Although Lateef's main i ...

, features Watkins on cello with Herman Wright backing him on bass. The cello was an instrument he had started to play only a few days before the recording session. Watkins died in an automobile accident near

Holbrook, Arizona Holbrook () is a city in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city was 5,053. The city is the county seat of Navajo County. Holbrook was founded in 1881 or 1882, when the railroad was bu ...

, on February 5, 1962, while traveling from Arizona to San Francisco to meet drummer

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio stat ...

for a gig.

Discography

As leader

* 1956: ''Watkins at Large'' ( Transition) * 1960: '' Soulnik'' (New Jazz)

As sideman

With Pepper Adams *'' Baritones and French Horns'' (Prestige, 1957) *'' Critic's Choice'' (World Pacific, 1957) *'' The Pepper-Knepper Quintet'' (MetroJazz, 1958) with Jimmy Knepper *'' 10 to 4 at the 5 Spot'' (Riverside, 1958) With

*'' Jammin' with Gene'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' Funky'' (Prestige, 1957) *''

Blue Gene Blue Gene was an IBM project aimed at designing supercomputers that can reach operating speeds in the petaFLOPS (PFLOPS) range, with relatively low power consumption. The project created three generations of supercomputers, Blue Gene/L, Blue ...

'' (Prestige, 1958) *'' Boss Tenor'' (Prestige, 1960) *'' Velvet Soul'' (Prestige, 1960 964 *'' Angel Eyes'' (Prestige, 1960 965 *'' Nice an' Cool'' (Moodsville, 1961) *''

Jug A jug is a type of container commonly used to hold and serve liquids, but not normally to drink from directly. It has an opening, sometimes narrow, from which to pour or drink, and has a handle, and usually a pouring lip. Jugs throughout histor ...

'' (Prestige, 1961) With

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

*'' At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1'' (Blue Note, 1955) *'' At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 2'' (Blue Note, 1955) * '' Originally'' (Columbia, 1956 982 With Tina Brooks *'' Minor Move'' (Blue Note, 1958) With

*'' All Night Long'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' All Day Long'' (Prestige, 1957) *''

'' (Prestige, 1957) *'' K. B. Blues'' (Blue Note, 1957

979 Year 979 (Roman numerals, CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It was the 979th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation, the 979th year of the 1st millennium, the 79th year of the 10th century, ...

*'' 2 Guitars'' - with

Jimmy Raney James Elbert Raney (August 20, 1927 – May 10, 1995) was an American jazz guitarist, born in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, known for his work from 1951 to 1952 and then from 1953 to 1954 with the Red Norvo trio (replacing Tal Farlow) a ...

(Prestige, 1957) With

*'' Byrd's Eye View'' (Transition, 1955) *'' Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill'' (Transition, 1956) *'' 2 Trumpets'' (Prestige, 1956) - with

*'' Jazz Eyes'' (Regent, 1957) - with John Jenkins *''Byrd in Paris'' (Brunswick, 1958) *''Parisian Thoroughfare'' (Brunswick, 1958) *'' Fuego'' (Blue Note, 1959) *'' Byrd in Flight'' (Blue Note, 1960) *''

Chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of no ...

'' (Blue Note, 1961) With

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

*''

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

'' (Prestige, 1957

963 Year 963 (Roman numerals, CMLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 39, probably of poison administered by his wife, Emp ...

With Tommy Flanagan *'' The Cats'' (Prestige, 1957) With

Curtis Fuller Curtis DuBois Fuller (December 15, 1932May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings. Early life Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 193 ...

*'' New Trombone'' (Prestige, 1957) With

Red Garland William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz ...

*'' Coleman Hawkins with the Red Garland Trio'' (Swingville, 1959) *'' Satin Doll'' (Prestige, 1959 971 *'' Rediscovered Masters'' (Prestige, 1959 977 With

Benny Golson Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...

*'' Gettin' with It'' (New Jazz, 1959) With Bill Hardman *'' Saying Something'' (

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

1961) With Wilbur Harden *'' Mainstream 1958'' (Savoy, 1958) With

Thad Jones Thaddeus Joseph Jones (March 28, 1923 – August 20, 1986) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and bandleader who has been called "one of the all-time greatest jazz trumpet soloists". Early life, family and education Thad Jones was born i ...

*'' Mad Thad'' (Period, 1957) *'' Olio'' (Prestige, 1957) With

*'' Jazz for the Thinker'' (Savoy, 1957) *'' Jazz Mood'' (Savoy, 1957) With

*'' Presenting... Jackie McLean'' (Ad Lib, 1955) *''

Lights Out! ''Lights Out!'' is a studio album by saxophonist Jackie McLean, his debut on Prestige Records. It was recorded in 1956 and released the same year as PRLP 7035. The album was reissued on CD in 1990 (as Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-426-2/Prestig ...

'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' 4, 5 and 6'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' Jackie McLean & Co.'' (Prestige, 1957) *'' Alto Madness'' (Prestige, 1957) - with John Jenkins *'' Bluesnik'' (Blue Note, 1961) With

*'' Oh Yeah'' (Atlantic, 1961) *'' Tonight at Noon'' (Atlantic, 1961) With Hank Mobley *'' Hank Mobley Quartet'' (Blue Note, 1955) *'' The Jazz Message of Hank Mobley'' (Savoy, 1956) *'' Mobley's Message'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' Mobley's 2nd Message'' (Prestige, 1956) *'' Jazz Message No. 2'' (Savoy, 1956) *'' Hank Mobley and his All Stars'' (Blue Note, 1957) *'' Hank Mobley Quintet'' (Blue Note, 1957) With

*'' Introducing Lee Morgan'' (Savoy, 1956) *''

Candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

'' (Blue Note, 1957) With The Prestige All Stars *'' Wheelin' & Dealin''' (Prestige, 1957) With Paul Quinichette *'' On the Sunny Side'' (Prestige, 1957) With Dizzy Reece *'' Soundin' Off'' (Blue Note, 1960) With Rita Reys *'' The Cool Voice of Rita Reys'' (Columbia, 1956) With

*'' Saxophone Colossus'' (Prestige, 1956) *''

Newk's Time ''Newk's Time'' is an album by jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins recorded on September 22, 1957 and released on Blue Note in 1959—his third album for the label. Recording The album was recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, o ...

'' (Blue Note, 1957) With

*'' Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers'' (Blue Note, 1955) *'' Silver's Blue'' (Columbia, 1956) *'' 6 Pieces of Silver'' (Blue Note, 1956) With Louis Smith *'' Here Comes Louis Smith'' (Blue Note, 1957) With

Idrees Sulieman Idrees Sulieman, born Leonard Graham (August 7, 1923 – July 23, 2002), was an American bop and hard bop trumpeter. Biography Graham was born in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, later changing his name to Idrees Sulieman, after conve ...

*''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusin ...

'' (New Jazz, 1958) with the Prestige All Stars With Billy Taylor *'' Interlude'' (Moodsville, 1961) With

*'' Pairing Off'' (Prestige, 1956)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Doug 1934 births 1962 deaths African-American musicians American jazz double-bassists American male double-bassists The Jazz Messengers members Blue Note Records artists Prestige Records artists Jazz musicians from Detroit 20th-century American double-bassists American male jazz musicians 20th-century American male musicians