Remembering Bill Watrous

We lost Bill Watrous this month. A beautiful cat and genius player. Met him 20 years ago while with Lionel at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. We had a conversation about a health issue I had. He gave me some real advice and remedies saying he had something similar. I started it and it helped. My doctor agreed. We kept in touch. When I would see him again, he remembered and said how is that going? Last time I saw him was 2012 at the Conn-Selmer booth during the years I was endorsing Yanagisawa, I paid my way to get there for two years to promote the horns along with Mel Martin. I said man can you play with me?? He said yeah for sure. We played some rhythm changes. I have a video of it. I wanted to try and be impressive and overplayed. Soon as I finished he looked at me said, “why don’t you play everything you know?” LOL. Lesson learned, schooled by the master !! I Love Watrous because in spite of being a legend and a pillar, he treated all of us with respect and kindness. God bless Bill Watrous.

 

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