Mick on Charlie - Paul Sexton. Charlie's Good Tonight

'Charlie's good tonight, inne? ' - Charlie Watts 1941-2021

Mick Jagger: Charlie was an incredibly open-minded musician, and there was a real subtlety about his playing. He was so catholic in his taste, through jazz, boogie-woogie, blues, classical, African music, dance, reggae and dumb pop songs that just happened to be good. People always say he was a great jazz fan, but he wasn’t just that. It’s over-simplifying his musical tastes, and what he liked to play.

He was a classical music fan, too. He liked Dvořák, Debussy, Mozart, and he and I used to listen to Stockhausen and Mahler. We listened to modern composers and tried to figure out what the hell they were on about. He was intelligent, and softly spoken, but he could be direct and say what he thought. He would keep his private life very private, but we understood each other’s thought processes. Charlie was a very quiet person, but he had a great sense of humour and we laughed all the time. I miss him in so many ways.

Sexton, Paul. Charlie's Good Tonight 

Photo Philip Townsend