Joan Watson-Jones And Friends at Chelmsford Center For The Arts

Event Description

Ingenues get the lion’s share of the attention, but jazz is an art form that rewards patience, and the most incisive performers draw on a deep well of experience…JOAN WATSON-JONES continues her evolution…creating music shaped by a fabulous family legacy.



Part of what makes Watson-Jones such an evocative performer is that she is a member of the band rather than a frontwoman. And what a band! FRANK WILKINS, a gifted pianist, arranger, and music director whose credits including backing Dee Dee Bridgewater is Watson-Jones’ hand-in-glove accompanist and longtime creative partner...

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Event Description

Ingenues get the lion’s share of the attention, but jazz is an art form that rewards patience, and the most incisive performers draw on a deep well of experience…JOAN WATSON-JONES continues her evolution…creating music shaped by a fabulous family legacy.



Part of what makes Watson-Jones such an evocative performer is that she is a member of the band rather than a frontwoman. And what a band! FRANK WILKINS, a gifted pianist, arranger, and music director whose credits including backing Dee Dee Bridgewater is Watson-Jones’ hand-in-glove accompanist and longtime creative partner. The rhythm section tandem of DAVE ZOX and drummer ALVIN TERRY deliver consistently tasty and expertly calibrated propulsion. Watson-Jones gives her bandmates space to shine, but everyone’s working in the service of the songs, a string of musical pearls grown from hard-won wisdom and hard work on the bandstand. After discovering her voice as a singer, Watson-Jones reveals herself as a bard of the human condition, a journey that continues apace. Coming into your own as a jazz artist ‘takes a lifetime, because you’ve gotta find yourself before you can be yourself in the music,’ she says, a trenchant truism that could well turn up in a future Watson-Jones song.” – Andrew Gilbert – freelance writer, San Francisco Chronicle, Jazz Times KQEDArts, Berkeley

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