The Lockdown Solos by Trevor Watts, reviewed by Dan Spicer in The Wire 437, July 2020

Fortunately, Watts has all the space he wants on The Lockdown Solos. Recorded in April and May this year, these concise yet searching performances – presented as ‘I so Elated’ parts one to eight – alternate between alto and soprano and reveal just what a formidable player he is. On alto especially, it’s clear that jazz – and be-bop in particular – still inform his thinking. There’s an incredible Bird-like fluidity to his runs, ideas tumbling and cascading from the horn at lightning speed and with pinpoint precision. Elsewhere, he gleefully digs into rhythmic patterns, showing just what a funky player he can also be – as attested by his work with outfits such as Amalgam and Moire Music – while on soprano, he veers into more avant garde territory, generating multiphonic overtones. To echo Picasso’s apocryphal witticism, these improvisations don’t just take a few minutes to play; each is the result of a lifetime of toil.