ARIZONA MUSIC REVIEW
C. E. Watson
 CLASSICAL GUITARIST
website: cewatson.com

LOCATION
Mesa, Arizona

Charles E. Watson, Jr. has well earned his reputation as the Fastest Classical Guitar Fret Board Artist. With an impressive and featured original stylistic finesse, combined with a remarkable gift for music and a natural stage & event professional presence, Charles’ approach to Guitar offers unique performance with a repertoire ranging from Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Romantic, to 20th and 21st Century musical eras including classic Rock, Blues, and Jazz.

CATEGORY
Guitarist / Composer / Arranger / Music Instructor

GENRE
Main focus: Classical ... also Pop, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Latin, Folk, New Age and Metal… unplugged acoustic, A/e acoustic, and amplified electrics

GUITARS 
Variety of customized and collector guitars including: nylon string traditional classical guitars, nylon string A/e guitars, steel string acoustic and A/e 6 & 12 strings, special edition and classic electrics

PERFORMING SINCE
1986

PERFORMING AND RECORDING BAND
Charles Watson & Hollow Council ... since 2007 ... Alternative Rock band, featuring Watson's extreme classical guitar works

INFLUENCES
Fernando Sor, Andres Segovia, Isaac Albeniz, J. S. Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky, B.B. King, Angus Young, Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani, Al Di Meola, to name a few

BIOGRAPHY Charles Ernest Watson (b. 1977) is a North American born composer and guitarist. A child prodigy from a family line of musicians and artists, he began composing and virtuoso public performance on the guitar at age 9.  Watson is also an accomplished pianist and known for his transcriptions for guitar of piano masterpieces from the Romantic and 20th Century musical eras and for his contemporary scores and symphonic productions for modern dance troupes, traditional ballet, and theater. A second generation student of Joe Pass, he currently teaches theory, technique, and performance for piano, drums, and guitar at Arizona's foremost music academy, Arizona Music Academy in Tempe, AZ, where he has taught since 2002. A seasoned public performer, accomplished in the recording studio, and adept at sight reading scores, tablature and jazz charts, he performs at many community, public, and private events, underground, informal, as well as celebrity, charity, and formal venues

SOME PUBLIC/EVENT PERFORMANCES
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Mesa Community College Annual Concert, Tempe Town Lake American Diabetes Association Benefit, Scottsdale Art Walk, Solidspace Studio Annual Music Festival, Manhattan's Martini Lounge, Paper Heart Gallery, Ice House, Katrina Benefit, Fate, Phoenix Museum of History, Queen Creek Performing Arts Center, Sturgus 2008 Rally, Ziggies Blues Club in Denver, CO, Bushwackers, and 3 Kings in Denver ... and many more clubs and private engagements

CLASSICAL GUITAR RECORDINGS

 "C. E. Watson: 2003 Classical Guitar" demo edition CD
~ 2003 Album~
"C. E. Watson: 2003 Classical Guitar" CD
~ 2003 Album ~
"C. E. Watson: 2004 Classical Guitar" demo edition CD
Selections ~ 2004 Demo
"C. E. Watson: 2004 Classical Guitar" CD
~ 2004 Album~
"C. E. Watson: 2005 CD
~ 2006 ALBUM Keyboards and Guitars~
    
 "C. E. Watson: 2005 - demo edition CD
~ 2006 ALBUM Keyboards and Guitars~
    
"Path of the Raven" Charles E. Watson 2006 Classical Guitar CD
2006 Promo Album
 

Mp3s of Charles E. Watson Classical Guitar on cewatson.com

REVIEW OF 2004 CLASSICAL GUITAR ALBUM

 C. E. Watson ~ 2004 Classical Guitar CD Album    
 1 / Malaguena (folk)
 2 / La Fureur adiago (C. E. Watson)
 3/  La Fureur presto ( C.E. Watson)
 4 / Abstraction (C. E Watson)
 5 / Outside Milan (M. Kibler)
 6 / Variation on a Theme (A. Corelli)
 7 / Contradance (C.E. Watson)
 8 / Fantasy in a minor (C.E. Watson)

  "Charles E. Watson Classical Guitarist ... has given the genre of Classical music new meaning ... experiencing live and listening to his CD recordings, this reviewer was profoundly drawn into the excitement of his unforgettable performances …
     
 Charles E. Watson's Classical Guitar CD Album is a fine selection of surprises even knowing this is from a virtuoso guitarist, and opens with an unusually fantastic rendition of the Spanish folk favorite 'Malaguena' (Ochi Chernye). Watson also plays hand drums and there are two guitar tracks on this version, but it sounds like three and sometimes four guitars are playing.  'La Fureur' , an epic of fury and a journey into other-world mysteries, here represented with an intriguing slower, thoughtful passage (adiago) and then steps up the pace with a second passage (presto), is bound to boggle most anyone's imagination realizing the intense skill required not only to write such a profound work but also execute it ... and with such fervor;  this reviewer has heard the entire work live and suspect this score has an obvious future among the classics of the 21st Century
     
'Abstraction' is a thematic beauty to get lost in, sensitive, thoughtful, an immediate favorite one feels one has loved forever; 'Outside Milan'  is a tune written about waiting for a bus outside Milan ... the landscape is vivid, the daydreaming of a sunny afternoon, overwhelming, and C.E.'s rendition, immaculate.
 
’ Variation on a Theme' by Corelli, a classic from the 1600's, is clearly performed with a knowledge of the nature of why this composition has remained a classic;  'Contradance' moves with smooth serenity, the melodic theme, a stream flowing pensively through contemplative moods, curious and given to a fancifulness of resolve; 'Fantasy in a minor' just has to be heard ... images of impending suspense and magic flourish in a dark surrounding ... the journeymen on a quest of definite intent, a composition and execution of the highest order finessed as only Charles E. Watson can do ...."  (Gothage Press, July, 2004, review)
###

 GpSixfeet Under Music Review Gp

CHARLES WATSON'S 2008 CLASSICAL GUITAR ALBUM ON PLATINUM PLUS RECORDS, NASHVILLE