BOBBY WATSON – Saxophonist, composer, producer and educator grew up in Kansas City, Kansas. He received his B.M. in Music Theory and Composition from University of Miami in 1975. After graduating, he moved to New York and received his “doctorate” as musical director of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1977-1981. In addition to his work as leader of the GRAMMY®-nominated quintet Horizon, Watson led a group known as the High court of Swing (a tribute to Johnny Hodges), led his Tailor-Made Big Band and is a founding member of the acclaimed 29th Street Saxophone Quartet. For 20 years (2000-2020) he served as the first William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri, Distinguished Professor in Jazz Studies at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. In 2010 Watson released the first of two self-produced CDs, The Gates BBQ Suite followed by Check Cashing Day (2013) – which marked the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famed “I Have A Dream” speech. His Made in America (Smoke Sessions; 2017) pays tribute to the lesser-known giants of American Black History; in 2019 he was an equal participant on Vincent Herring’s Bird At 100 (Smoke Sessions) and subsequent live performances including headlining the Charlie Parker Festival in New York. In 2020 he added to his already measurable discography, releasing Keepin’ It Real [Smoke Sessions]. Ever-active as a performing artist with a strong educational bent, Watson has come full circle with his latest title, Back Home In Kansas City (Smoke Sessions). The date marks the saxophonist’s 39th recordings as a leader. The composer of more than 100 pieces of music, Watson. Was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2013. A year later, on August 23, 2014, he was one of the inaugural inductees into the then-newly established 18th and Vine Jazz Walk of Fame, joining fellow Kansas City-area musician Pat Metheny and four of the city’s most historically significant jazz icons: Count Basie, Jay McShann, Charlie Parker and Mary Lou Williams.