Bass Player: Jerry Watts

Since arriving in Los Angeles, bassist Jerry Watts Jr. has worked with the best of the best – a truly eclectic mix of artists at the highest levels of pop, rock, jazz, world beat, and groove musics of every description. Watts has appeared on hundreds of albums, with 3 GRAMMY® wins and 10 nominations (including 2 Latin GRAMMYs®), and has appeared on numerous film /TV soundtracks, and live DVDs. In addition, Watts has extensive international touring experience, performing in over 46 countries worldwide. A remarkable musical versatility and a commitment to original, creative, and improvised musics has been the through line of his career from the beginning.

Watts first made his mark alongside drumming legend David Garibaldi as a member of the popular group Wishful Thinking lead by Tim Weston, while at the same time appearing on Prog-Rock keyboard whiz Eddie Jobson’s first solo effort (The Green Album) – AND touring/recording with Indian violin virtuoso L. Subramaniam (whose iconic band included Larry Corryell, Stephane Grapelli and Tony Williams).

The attached transcription is for the short but achingly beautiful ‘Nostalgia’ from the 1983 album ‘The Green Album’ by Eddie Jobson and his band Zinc (although the band never really was a band). The transcription is the very simple rooted bass line but has the added novelty of the Jobson violin melody transcribed for bass. The whole thing is very easy to play and very easy to read but shows how you don’t have to be a chopsy fusion player to play beautiful music.