The Rolling Stones - Stray Cat Blues

Another legend has left us, Charlie Watts, THE ROLLING STONES drummer who propelled the band’s sound for nearly 60 years, has died aged 80.

A statement from his London publicist, Bernard Doherty, to the PA Media news agency said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts."

“He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier today surrounded by his family. Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also, as a member of the Rolling Stones, one of the greatest drummers of his generation.”

Charlie originally trained as a graphic artist, he started playing drums in London's rhythm and blues clubs, where he met Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards. In January 1963, he joined their fledgling group, THE ROLLING STONES, as drummer, while doubling as designer of their record sleeves and tour stages. Watts, along with Jagger and Richards, were the only band members to have been featured on all of their studio albums. He cited jazz as a major influence on his drumming style. He toured with his own group, the Charlie Watts Quintet, and appeared in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with the Charlie Watts Tentet.

In 2006, Watts was elected into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame; in the same year, Vanity Fair elected him into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. In the estimation of noted music critic Robert Christgau, Watts was "rock's greatest drummer." In 2016, he was ranked 12th on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time" list.

Always using a straightforward four-drum setup – positively minimalist compared with the multi-instrument setups favoured by many rock groups – he gave THE ROLLING STONES propulsive, unfussy backbeats on every one of their studio albums, beginning with their self-titled 1964 debut. “I don’t like drum solos,” he once said. “I admire some people that do them, but generally I prefer drummers playing with the band. The challenge with rock’n’roll is the regularity of it. My thing is to make it a dance sound – it should swing and bounce.”

To remember Charlie I thought that we pick a tune where we can hear his finest drumming and got "Stray Cat Blues" in mind, a tune from the 1968 album "Beggars Banquet". The clip i found is from the fifth and final leg of the Bridges To Babylon Tour, at Weserstadion on September 2, 1998.



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