ArtistInfo

Butch Watson

g,
Musician

Butch started to play guitar after hearing an album by Grant Green, “ Feeling the Spirit” when he was about 12 years old. It was then that the Spirit touched him to play guitar. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, Parliament Funkadelic with whom Butch performed with as a youngster, were originally from the same neighborhood in Plainfield, New Jersey. (They included Frankie Boyce, Richard Boyce, Charlie Rivers, Kevin Goins, Charlie Morton, Gary Shider, Glen Goins, Billy Nelson, Cordell "Boogie" Mosson, Eddie Hazel, Billy Spruell and Bernie Worrell who were members of this group.) During high school, Butch also studied guitar and recording with Master Guitarist William "Billy" Jennings of Plainfield, New Jersey, Harry Leahy and George Benson. Biff Hannon (pianist), who played with Maynard Ferguson, along with drummer (and Cubs' Little League teammate), Stevie Shargel, will always have a special place in Butch's heart. Defying the riots, they came to Butch's home and said " Let's Jam! Let's play MUSIC!" At Kansas State University Butch majored in Cultural Anthropology. At KSU, he performed as a guitarist and composer for the school’s drama club, the Purple Mask Theatre and local bands. He played sessions with the superb Kansan guitarist, Bill Hollingsworth. Butch entered graduate school at the University of Colorado (CU) but the Spirit to play guitar never left him. He would be destined to a supporting role as a guitarist, composer, sound engineer, assistant producer and an international teaching consultant, working both in Korea and Japan. In Boulder, Colorado, another “musical gold mine”, he got a chance to perform with legendary rock guitarist Tommy Bolin of (Deep Purple) at the “Good Earth”. He also met "later to be" Earth Wind and Fire members Philip Baily, Larry Dunn and Andrew Wolfolk (all CU students), who were in a group called “Friends of Love”. Butch worked as a Youth Outreach Worker for the Department of Community Development in Boulder, Colorado. Returning to NJ, he worked as a grant writer in order to encourage and empower underprivileged children in his hometown and in NYC. A year later, he and brother master guitarist Harry Watson were recruited by Parliament Funkadelic lead singer, Glenn Goins, to work on the Quazar project which went to #10 on the USA R&B charts. The project was produced by Goins and the great Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer (and friend), Jerome Brailey of Mutiny and Parliament- Funkadelic. After Goins’ untimely passing from cancer, Butch performed as a guitarist and composer with French singer Catherine Lara (Coup de Feel/SONY, France SMM 501480 2 © 2000)), Junior Byron ( Formula Records – F-001 Montreal, Canada), Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wilson Pickett (I Want You/ EMI #062-86025 America & Europe ) all of whom were produced by the legendary extraordinaire French Canadian Producer Andre Perry, at Le Studio in Montreal, Quebec. A live New York City performance with Bernie Worrell and David Bryne received excellent reviews. Butch Watson is honored to appear as a guitarist/composer on “Uncut Funk” (BMG France #74321 483062 ], a compilation with Soul Music & Jazz Greats Parliament, George Duke, Sly & The Family Stone, Kool & The Gang, Larry Young, Cameo Bootsy's Rubber Band, War and Herbie Hancock. As a sound engineer/ technician Butch Watson has worked with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, Talking Heads, and Tom Tom Club for the complete “Speaking in Tongues” Tour and was a sound engineer/ technician for the concert movie “Stop Making Sense” produced by Jonathan Deme. Deme went on to make Academy Award movies "Silence of the Lambs","Philadelphia" and "The Manchurian Candidate". Byrne (the Talking Heads lead singer), later wrote the Academy Award Winning Soundtrack for "The Last Emperor" with Sakamoto Ryuichi. Talking Heads can also be heard in the movies "Wall Street" and "Wall Street 2". In 1990, although an instructor at Yonsei University Graduate School of Business Administration in Seoul, Republic of South Korea, Butch performed with Korean movie soundtrack composer Yong-Jin Jeong before moving to Japan in 1992. He has performed with Award Winning Japanese singers Mochida Kaori and Amuro Namie. In 2012, Butch's "You Are The Sun" was played on INTER-FM Tokyo as a soundtrack featuring the Japanese artist Shing02's "Rokkashou"... In Japan, Butch Watson has also taught International Communications at Waseda University (Tokyo), Kanto Gakuin University (Yokohama), Zushi Kaisei, and the prestigious Eiko Gakuen in Kamakura (2011). He is involved with cultural consultant activity at Ajinomoto Kawasaki 味の素川崎, teaching, composing, and is a dedicated student of Japanese Kendo (Fencing /All Japan Kendo Federation／Kanagawa Ken). Listen at: Japan 2012 https://soundcloud.com/butch-watson/you-are-the-sun-rokkasho-mix http://soundcloud.com/butch-watson/nas-whose-world-is-this-remix With Talking Heads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGofoH9RDEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HldHtBxNK6k http://www.veoh.com/watch/v24256699cDmXWE4y?h1=Talking+Heads+-+Stop+Making+Sense+(1984) Montreal, Quebec Canada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFljhDYJen0 With Amuro Namie Live in Japan: "Respect the Power of Love" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8C3aSI1UGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTeE1QArmPc --- UnCut Funk BMG France (Guitarist & ComposerTrack 13): http://www.discogs.com/Various-Uncut-Funk/release/559579 http://www.discogs.com/Quazar-Funk-With-A-Big-Foot/release/1352806

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