Biography
Jeff “Tain” Watts holds the unique distinction of being the only musician to appear on every Grammy Award winning jazz record by both Wynton and Branford Marsalis.
He got the nickname "Tain" from Kenny Kirkland when they were on tour in Florida and drove past a Chieftain gas station, so "Jeff Tain" for "Chief-tain".
Watts has worked in the film and television industry as both a musician on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for three years and as an actor, Rhythm Jones in Spike Lee’s Mo' Better Blues. Tain performed and recorded with the Branford Marsalis Quartet from 1985 to 2009. He currently performs with his own groups The Watts Project and the Jeff "Tain" Watts Quartet, as well as the great pianists McCoy Tyner, The George Cables Project, and Geri Allen. Watts started his own record label Dark Key Music in 2007, releasing Folk's Songs in 2007, Watts in 2009 and Family in 2011. Dark Key Music is a 2010 Grammy Award Winner: Best Instrumental Solo, Terence Blanchard for "Dancin' 4 Chicken". As a composer, Watts is a creative and innovative force in modern jazz, contributing most of the compositions on his own albums.
He is a Pittsburgh Steelers fan and can be seen on the album cover of Branford Marsalis' Braggtown with a Terrible Towel.
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“There never was a good biography of a good novelist. There couldn’t be. He is too many people, if he’s any good.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)