Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for Miscellaneous Instrument.

Life and career

Watkins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He began playing the French horn when he was nine years old. Watkins began his career in jazz playing the trumpet in the Ernie Fields Orchestra from 1943 to 1946. By the late 1940s, he had played some French horn solos on recording sessions led by Kenny Clarke and Babs Gonzales. After moving to New York City, Watkins studied for three years at the Manhattan School of Music. He started appearing in small-group jazz sessions, including two led by Thelonious Monk, featuring on "Friday the 13th" on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (1954). Watkins recorded with many other jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Randy Weston, and with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. He co-led, with Charlie Rouse, the group Les Jazz Modes from 1956 to 1959, and he toured with Quincy Jones and his band from 1959 to 1961. In 1969, Watkins played French horn for the beat poet Allen Ginsberg's album Songs of Innocence and Experience (1970), a musical adaptation of William Blake's poetry collection of the same name. Suffering from diabetes, liver and kidney problems, and chronic alcoholism, Watkins died from a heart attack in Short Hills, New Jersey, at the age of 55. From 1994 to 1998, an annual Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held in New York, beginning at the Knitting Factory, ) honoring his legacy. After an eleven-year break, another Julius Watkins Festival was held on October 3, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, at Cornish College of the Arts. On September 29, 2012, the seventh Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

With Charlie Rouse as Les Jazz Modes/The Jazz Modes With Jazz Contemporaries (George Coleman, Clifford Jordan, Harold Mabern, Larry Ridley, Keno Duke)

As sideman

With Manny Albam With Benny Bailey With Art Blakey With Kenny Burrell With Billy Byers With Donald Byrd With John Coltrane With Tadd Dameron With Miles Davis With Billy Eckstein With Gil Evans With Art Farmer With Curtis Fuller and Hampton Hawes With Dizzy Gillespie With Allen Ginsberg With Benny Golson With Johnny Griffin With Gigi Gryce With Jimmy Heath With Freddie Hubbard With Milt Jackson With The Jazz Composer's Orchestra With Quincy Jones With Thad Jones and Mel Lewis With Beverly Kenney With Stan Kenton With Roland Kirk With Michel Legrand With the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars With Herbie Mann With Cal Massey With Mat Mathews With Charles McPherson With Gil Mellé With Charles Mingus With Blue Mitchell With Thelonious Monk With David Newman With Oliver Nelson With Chico O'Farrill With Oscar Peterson With Oscar Pettiford With Johnny Richards With the Riverside Jazz Stars With Pete Rugolo With Pharoah Sanders With George Shearing With Warren Smith With Les Spann With Billy Taylor With Clark Terry With McCoy Tyner With Randy Weston With Art Webb With Mary Lou Williams With Phil Woods