Jazz Cat in a Rock n Roll Circus
Oh dear, another legend shuffles off…
It was only a very short while back that Charlie Watts announced he’d be sitting out the upcoming Stones tour, and letting Steve Jordan take his place. He’d be back as soon as he recovered.
But now, like so many before him, he’s gone. At least he leaves behind a musical legacy. Most of us will pass through this vale of tears mostly unnoticed, leaving precious little trace once we’re gone.
Not so Charlie Watts. I won’t bother lionising him, here and now, nor even analysing his part in The Stones. I’ll just share a few pics and tracks, and get back into listening to the music more.
In truth, Charlie Watts’ death is, for me, the trigger to finally dive deep into The Stones. Something I’ve always been slightly resistant to, for some obscure reason.
So, anyway, despite a total absence of funds, I’ve managed to get hold of a bunch of Stones’ albums, namely: Satanic, Beggars, Bleed, Sticky and Goat’s Head… plus I already had Exile. So that’s a solid run of their albums, from ‘67-‘72, probably their best ‘streak’?
In the longer term I’ll probably get more; a few earlier ones, to see where they were coming from, and poss’ even some later ones (Goat’s Head Soup might already be on its way?), some of which – Undercover, Dirty Work, for example – I heard as a kid at home.
Like Charlie, I’m a keen jazzbo. Obviously he grew up closer to all the stuff that he loved/influenced him. And my route into and through jazz has been much later and very different. But, to a certain degree, like Watts I feel like my heart is in jazzville, whilst my body is in a rock n roll, or, (poss’ much worse!?) pop land.
Well… so long, Chuck!
