| Jazz |
A Dream Album of People, Places, and Time: Marc Seales and Ernie Watts Deliver a Jazz Masterpiece for the Ages.
The title, and even the opening notes, of this album might initially evoke the laid-back sophistication of a Michael Franks project. And indeed, there is something unmistakably refined, almost architectural, about this collaboration. In an era when melodic clarity is too often sacrificed for trend or abstraction, pianist Marc Seales and saxophonist Ernie Watts stand out like rare porticos, supporting structures of taste and balance, offering melodic through-lines that glisten like golden threads in the hands of master craftsmen. People & Places is an album that not only offers immediate listening pleasure but, without a doubt, will take its place among the memorable jazz recordings of our time.
That’s no overstatement. We are, after all, in the presence of two legendary artists. Pianist Marc Seales has spent decades as a first-call accompanist for major touring acts, contributing to recordings, concerts, and enduring musical partnerships with such luminaries as vocalist Mark Murphy, guitarist Larry Coryell, and saxophonist Ernie Watts. His reputation as a versatile, soulful, and deeply musical pianist is long established, and People & Places finds him once again in the company of musicians who match his depth and sensitivity.
For this project, Seales traveled to Los Angeles, the hometown of Ernie Watts, to reunite with his longtime collaborator, along with bassist Bruce Lett, a key presence on the West Coast jazz scene, and drummer Moyes Lucas, Jr., with whom Seales shared stages in Seattle in the early 1980s. Drawing from a repertoire of original compositions spanning three decades, as well as an electrifying cover of Wayne Shorter’s Palladium, the album quickly found its conceptual anchor: a celebration of the people, the places, and the musical friendships that have shaped Seales’s artistic path.
Though he recently retired after 38 years of inspired teaching at the University of Washington, Seales is clearly not slowing down. For true artists, retirement is often a technicality. The creative journey doesn’t adhere to a calendar; it flows wherever imagination leads. And listening to this album, one is immediately struck by the richness that years of dedication bring to both composition and performance.
Ernie Watts, for his part, remains one of the most expressive, technically masterful saxophonists alive. A two-time Grammy Award winner with a résumé that spans over 500 recordings, from Cannonball Adderley to Frank Zappa, Watts brings not only virtuosity but that rarest of qualities: a singular voice. His unmistakable tone sings through every track, as brilliant and focused as ever, reflecting more than five decades of devotion to the horn he first picked up in his early teens.
Importantly, People & Places is an acoustic album, a detail that ensures its timelessness. Free from the production signatures that date so many recordings, this music feels vibrant and eternal. Shorter’s Palladium is given new life here, energized by dazzling arrangements and brought to radiant fullness by Watts’s powerful interpretation. As the album unfolds, it’s easy to imagine this quartet lighting up the main stages of international festivals or captivating intimate jazz clubs with equal ease. There is a spirit in this music that elevates the listener, a force of intention, of mastery, of joy.
And that’s perhaps the true miracle of this album: Seales and Watts offer not just notes and rhythms, but lived experience, deep friendship, and a shared love of the form. It’s an album of jazz at its most intellectual and emotionally accessible, urban, urbane, and unafraid to dwell in the subtle. In every track, there is a sense of movement and memory, a geography of human connection traced in melody.
It turns out that chasing big effects isn’t necessary when inspiration is so gracefully harnessed. People & Places is a reminder that some of the most profound musical statements come not from spectacle, but from authenticity, care, and craftsmanship. It is, in every sense, a dream album, or perhaps the album of a dream. Rich in place, rich in spirit, and rich in humanity. One can only thank Seales and Watts for this beautiful offering, and for careers that continue to give so generously.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, July 26th 2025
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Musicians :
Ernie Watts – tenor saxophone
Marc Seales – piano, keyboards
Bruce Lett – acoustic bass
Moyes Lucas Jr. – drums
Tracklisting:
Rue Cler 9:54
Palladium 8:31
Prelude 5:01
For You My Dear 4:47
The Muddy Chicago Blues 8:53
The Gingi 7:37
Ascending Truth 8:12
Home Light 9:29
All music by Marc Seales (Second Floor Music, BMI)
except: (2) Wayne Shorter (Iska Music, BMI); (8) Marc Seales/ Ernie Watts (Second Floor Music/ Urban Renewal Music, BMI)
Produced by Marc Seales & Steve Rodby
Recorded by Paul Tavenner at Big City Recording, Granada Hills, CA
Recorded by August 5-6, 2022 & February 10, 2023
Mixed by Steve Rodby, Seattle, WA
Mastered by Rich Breen at Rich Breen Mastering, Los Angeles, CA
Musician Photos: Steve Korn (Seales, cover);
Paul Tavenner (Band); Jim Levitt (Seales/Lucas);
Don Saban (Bruce Lett)
Cover design & layout by John Bishop