Trevor Watts
b. 26 February 1939, York, England. A child of jazz-loving parents, Watts was largely self-taught, but he did spend one year in the RAF School of Music. He took up the cornet at the age of 12 and the alto saxophone at 18. From 1958-63 he played in the RAF band. At the end of his National Service, he moved to London to join the New Jazz Orchestra and in 1965 was a founder member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME). In 1967 he founded the SME's sister band, Amalgam. In 1972 he formed Splinters with Stan Traceyand John Stevens, working with Stevens again in the Dance Orchestra. He also played with Pierre Favre and Bobby Lee Bradford in 1972-73, with Stan Tracey (1973-74), the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra (1972-75), Open Circle and Tentacles (both with Tracey in 1975) and the Universal Music Group in 1978. He formed the Trevor Watts String Ensemble in 1976 and Moire Music and the Moire Music Drum Orchestra in 1978. He won the Thames Television Award for schools teaching in 1972. He plays with a sharp, clear, singing tone and has been one of the most significant figures in the British post- Ornette Coleman school.