4:50pm Thursday 7th May 2009
ROLLING Stones drummer Charlie Watts is will be playing a special gig in Essex next week.
The legendary stickman will be playing the High Barn in Great Bardfield on May 13, one of three hastily-arranged UK shows, in which he is appearing alongside a pair of top pianists.
With a capacity for just 200, the 14th-century High Barn is a very different venue to the 50,000-seater stadiums Watts regular plays with the Stones.
Watts will play his favourite music – jazz and blues – alongside British boogie-woogie pianist Ben Waters, German ivory-tickler Axel Zwingenberger and a band of top musicians.
He has played with the Rolling Stones in 1963, but has long worked on jazz side-projects.
A huge jazz fan, in the late Seventies, Watts joined regular Stones pianoman Ian Stewart in a back-to-the-roots boogie-woogie band called Rocket 88, which featured many of the UK’s top jazz, rock and r’n’b musicians.
During the Eighties, he toured worldwide with a big band which included such names as Evan Parker, Courtney Pine, and bassist Jack Bruce, while in 1991 he organised a jazz quintet as a tribute to legendary saxman Charlie Parker.
David Wingate, of the High Barn, said: “It’s a real coup for us and I’ll tell you why.
“This place is a fantastic venue and more and more big names are coming here, as part of tours, but also as warm-ups for bigger national tours.
“It’s because they love the acoustics and the countryside setting. I’ve known the name Charlie Watts from my teenage years and I’m not usually one for being starstruck, but even I will probably go up to him and have a chat – I hope so , anyway.”
* Charlie Watts plays the High Barn in Great Bardfield on Wednesday, May 13. The show starts at 8.30pm, and tickets are £22.50.
For details, call the box office, on 01371 811291 or click on the link below
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