Originally from Ohio, Watson joined the Marines as a musician, where high audition scores earned his first choice of assignments: New Orleans. He is now a deservedly busy freelancer in town. Getting his start on the New Orleans circuit as a member of Irvin Mayfield's New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, soon a stand-out player of Mayfield's big band. He acknowledges this currency and is appropriately challenged by it. He describes feeling exposed and more obligated to represent New Orleans when performing in Europe, because of how hungry the young musicians are to know and learn about the New Orleans "thing.” Teaching, as many of us know, regardless of the discipline, is the fastest way to learn what you don’t know about a subject.