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Charlie Watts


jezzaboy

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36 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Only 24 posts in 16 hrs about an absolute musical legend. Does the Basschat demographic apart from myself stop at about 18 or something? Talkbass has gone nuts and showing huge respect...

Don't be ridiculous. Most of us are well past the first flush of youth. Many are even OAPs like me. For me, there's not a lot to do or say apart from feel sad about the news. We don't feel the need to rush into print. Respond how you wish and leave others to do the same.

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3 hours ago, greavesbass said:

Only 24 posts in 16 hrs about an absolute musical legend. Does the Basschat demographic apart from myself stop at about 18 or something? Talkbass has gone nuts and showing huge respect...

There are 3 separate threads running simultaneously.  This one, the Chatlie Watts has put in a dep thread and the notable deaths thread.

However, it's not a competition about who is showing the right amount of grief.

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I read this story on FB earlier (this is a direct quote, it is someone else writing in the first person, not me):

 

"Twenty years ago, Charlie Watts did a week at Ronnie Scott's with his tentet. A hell of a line-up. Henry Lowther, Gerard Presencer, Mark Nightingale, Peter King, Julian Arguelles, Evan Parker, Brian Lemon. EVAN PARKER AND BRIAN LEMON in the same band. That's a combination that nobody would think of booking. Except for Charlie Watts. Why? Because that's who he liked and who he wanted. And of course, always, always, his childhood mate on bass, the wonderful, endlessly versatile Dave Green.

My mate Joel Taylor, who's now high up on the Metro paper, was then a junior reporter at the Camden New Journal. He rang me "Want to come to Ronnie's free with me next week? I'm reviewing Charlie Watts". My response was swift and decisive. So the following week, there we were. We ordered a bottle of wine. When it arrived, we went to pay. "That's on the house." Nice. Second bottle. Same reply. Third bottle. You get the idea. Eventually, we needed to soak some of this up. We ordered a basket of chips. "That'll be £3.50".

The following week, I saw Joel for a pint and he said "I've got to the bottom of the wine thing. Cindy Hacker (one of the club management, who handled the PR side) explained that Charlie Watts had said he'd foot the drinks bill of every journalist who came to see the show. When it came to the chips, we were on our own". I should add that it was a great night. That line-up delivered, and the drummer wasn't too shabby. Joel has reminded me tonight that, touchingly, Charlie peered round the curtain just before they went on to see if anyone was in. It was a sell-out for the whole run.

It's clear that was the sort of man Charlie Watts was. Someone (possibly either Pete Cater or Brian Bennett) told me that when Ronnie and Pete King were having trouble, which happened a lot, due to Soho landlords and stuff, Charlie was always there. He'd put a band in for a week, pay them out of his own pocket and let Ronnie and Pete keep the door and the bar takings. He saved the club a few times that way. He played rock for a living, but played jazz for pleasure, and his way of paying it all back was to keep the premier jazz venue in the UK afloat, and to keep his mates in well-paid work. It's a sad day. Being a drummer is to be in the finest club of all, and we've lost one of the very best of all of us."

 

Charlie Watts, a real class act.

Edited by ezbass
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57 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

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Thanks!

“The First Time” is a good show, but I have not heard the Charlie Watts episode - but will put that right soon.

Same for DID…. I took a look at the track list though, and was not too surprised to see there was nothing in the Stones-ish genre in there.

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23 hours ago, chris_b said:

I saw The Stones at the O2 and the whole evening was anchored by Charlie's drumming. He never missed a beat and underpinned the band in a simple, effective and fantastic way.

You will probably need some isolated drum tracks then. Incredible.

 

https://www.thatericalper.com/2021/08/24/charlie-watts-isolated-drum-tracks-from-the-rolling-stones-gimme-shelter-start-me-up-and-more/

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On 25/08/2021 at 09:54, greavesbass said:

Only 24 posts in 16 hrs about an absolute musical legend. Does the Basschat demographic apart from myself stop at about 18 or something? Talkbass has gone nuts and showing huge respect...

Surely as long as you liked him its all good. Not everyone is quit so keen to post simply because a great musician has died. I prefer to remember him and play his music.

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