For more than three decades, Watson has contributed consistently intelligent, sensitive and well-thought-out music to the modern-day jazz lexicon. A saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator, Bobby Watson grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and trained formally at the University of Miami. He earned his “doctorate” – on the bandstand – as musical director of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which showcased a rotating cast of players, many of whom would go on to have substantial careers as bandleaders.