Julius Watkins

From 1994 to 1998, an annual Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held in New York, beginning at the Knitting Factory,) honoring his legacy. After an eleven-year break, another Julius Watkins Festival was held on October 3, 2009, in Seattle, Washington, at Cornish College of the Arts. On September 29, 2012, the seventh Julius Watkins Jazz Horn Festival was held at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

In 1969, Watkins played French horn for the beat poet Allen Ginsberg's album Songs of Innocence and Experience (1970), a musical adaptation of William Blake's poetry collection of the same name.

Watkins recorded with many other jazz musicians, including John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, Johnny Griffin, Randy Weston, and with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. He co-led, with Charlie Rouse, the group Les Jazz Modes from 1956 to 1959, and he toured with Quincy Jones and his band from 1959 to 1961.

Watkins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He began playing the French horn when he was nine years old. Watkins began his career in jazz playing the trumpet in the Ernie Fields Orchestra from 1943 to 1946. By the late 1940s, he had played some French horn solos on recording sessions led by Kenny Clarke and Babs Gonzales. After moving to New York City, Watkins studied for three years at the Manhattan School of Music. He started appearing in small-group jazz sessions, including two led by Thelonious Monk, featuring on "Friday the 13th" on the album Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins (1954).

Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician who played French horn. Described by AllMusic as "virtually the father of the jazz French horn", Watkins won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for Miscellaneous Instrument.