Across the Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, the 4th July Fesival 1995; and here comes Steve Lacy, soprano sax specialist, along with Sun Ra's Arkestra back from a tour of the galaxy. But here, right on Central Capital Plaza is the TREVOR WATTS MOIRE MUSIC DRUM ORCHESTRA, the groundbreaking multi-cultural band, flowing through percussion-break compositions with linear, precise-as-poetry saxophone excursions. The same alto and soprano horns that thirty years before were ensconced in London's Little Theatre Club blowing intricate improvisations with a single minded visionary percussionist. Here beyond the borders of 'free music' is A WIDER EMBRACE (ECM). Abstraction never left Trevor Watts but he requires the width of the globe and this is LIFE & MUSIC.

That visionary percussionist was of course the mercurial John Stevens. In the beginning, Mr Watts and Mr Stevens, together with trombonist Paul Rutherford, embodied the SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ENSEMBLE. SME soon configured into numerous line-ups. CHALLENGE (Emanem) from 1966 is a fine example of early Watts, Stevens and Rutherford sparking with Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler, Jeff Clyne and Bruce Cale; all names synonymous with free-improv's development in the UK.

By 1969 Trevor Watts and John Stevens inhabited a parallel leading the bands AMALGAM (Watts) and AWAY (Stevens). Two key Amalgam albums; in 1976 came Another Time (FMR), with extraordinary American guitarist Steve Hayton, transmuting jazz/abstraction/rock pared to the Watts horns, now literally electric. The second recommendation, CLOSER TO YOU (Hi4Head Records), a 1979 trio line-up with Colin McKenzie on bass guitar and Liam Genockey, drums. Both musicians had pivotal roles in Mr Watts subsequent MOIRE Orchestras, particularly McKenzie who transplanted a hip funk/fusion dance groove into the mass overlay of lines visioning out of of Trevor Watts' head. The music echoed diversity; Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman/Don Cherry, the Master Musicians of Jajouka and crucially, the brekete drum tradition of Ghana. To borrow Ornette's title, here was DANCING IN YOUR HEAD (A&M)

Cut to the Current. the musicians featured in LIFE & MUSIC are drawn from the CELEBRATION BAND. Their first album was released inn 2001. Up to this point Trevor Watts had been working with his peers. A diverse range of fully formed UK stylists, from Peter Knight to Keith Tippett; key members of the American new wave, saxophone maestro Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman's 'other' trumpeter, Bobby Bradford, Then came the Ghanaian contingent, crucially Nana Tsiboe and Paapa J. Mensah. 'The Celebrators' came from a different perspective; a coterie of musicians with whom Watts acted as a mentor. Listen up:

MEXICO NIGHTS features Watts' sax and synth with Jamie Harris palm dancing a large Malaysian drum. BURKINA NIGHTS is Watts straight-horn science, marimba and beats, riding a Harris drum pattern, as sophisticated as space is to time. On the other non-band tracks it's 'totally Trev'. OUGOUDOUGOU is the capital of Burkina Faso. Here Mr Watts worked with Adama Drame the great Djembe player. The line-up of MOIRE MUSIC DRUM ORCHESTRA had only Trevor Watts' reeds out front. OUGOUDOUGOU gives a hint of what MOIRE could have sounded like with the Watts saxes set within the Celebration horn section.

LIFE & MUSIC is a glimpse into a new renaissance musician. Over sixty years of serious endeavour cannot be complete on one recording. The album doesn't include the Trevor Watts duets with pianists Veryan Weston and Stephen Grew, nor the vast catalogue of his 'sound' cynosures. What this collection does demonstrate is a unique 21st century virtuoso tracking his own muse to the limit. He denies nothing, he gives everything. Trevor Watts (1939 to the present) does not act his age, he soundtracks it, Celebrate with him.

Steve Day - dedicated to Nana Tsiboe.