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Elaine Hoffman Watts

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Elaine Hoffman Watts
Watts in 2007
Background information
Birth nameElaine Hoffman
Born(1932-05-25)May 25, 1932
DiedSeptember 25, 2017(2017-09-25) (aged 85)
GenresKlezmer
Occupation(s)Musician, educator
Instrument(s)Drums, percussion

Elaine Hoffman Watts (May 25, 1932 – September 25, 2017[1]) was a klezmer drummer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Biography

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Watts came from a line of klezmer musicians from what is now Ukraine and was the daughter of Jacob Hoffman,[2] a klezmer xylophone player and bandleader from the 1920s who also played with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ballets Russes Orchestra. Her daughter Susan Watts is a klezmer trumpet player and an important figure in the klezmer revival. She was raised in Southwest Philadelphia and learned how to play the drums in the basement of her house.[3] Her father would put sticks in her hands and tell her to play while he played xylophone, and she didn't have formal music lessons until she was 12 years old.[4]

In 1954, Elaine Hoffman Watts was the first woman percussionist to be accepted and graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.[1] After graduation she was hired as a timpanist in the New Orleans Symphony, and over the years played in other orchestras and jazz groups, including sitting in for Duke Ellington and Count Basie.[3]

Beginning in 1998, she was a percussion teacher at KlezKamp, and she taught percussion in the Philadelphia area beginning in the mid-1960s. She was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts in 2000[5] and was a recipient of a 2007 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[3][6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Cook, Bonnie L. (September 17, 2017). "Elaine Hoffman Watts, 85, who performed klezmer folk music". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  2. ^ "Elaine Hoffman Watts: Klezmer musician". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Kroll, Yoni (October 31, 2017). "Perseverance, Pride, and Percussion: Remembering the incredible life of Elaine Hoffman Watts". xpn.org. WXPN.
  4. ^ Spitzer, Nick (May 5, 2011). "From Generation To Generation, Klezmer Lives On". www.npr.org. All Things Considered. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  5. ^ "Elaine Hoffman Watts: Pew Fellow, 2000". www.pewcenterarts.org. Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. May 19, 2023 [2000].
  6. ^ "NEA National Heritage Fellowships: Elaine Hoffman Watts". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020.
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