Chances are, you've heard Charlie Watts play and Bernard Fowler sing. As the drummer for The Rolling Stones, Watts is arguably one of the most heard rock musicians around. Fowler, consistently employed as a background singer, has an enviable discography. And together they've produced several very good albums of American jazz standards.
Charlie Watts was a jazz musician before he was a member of The Rolling Stones and makes no secret of his preference for that genre over rock. In 1992, Watts put together a quintet and released A Tribute Charlie Parker with Strings. The first portion of the album consists of music written by Peter King and Bernard Fowler narrating a text written by Charlie Watts. The second set includes Fowler singing "Lover Man." Watts' next two albums, Warm & Tender and Long Ago & Far Away included many of the same musicians with Fowler's soulful voice highlighted on vocals.
Again, it was a bit hard to track down some this duo's work. The best I could manage within the bounds of what already exists on the internet is an interview Watts did in 1993 that includes a bit of Fowler singing. Unfortunately, it's not even embeddable!
Charlie Watts On "NBC Later" 1993 Pt 3 of 3
Only Long Ago & Far Away is currently available from Amazon.com as a CD, though another of Watts' albums, sans Fowler, is available for digital download.
Here is the title track from that Long Ago & Far Away:
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