Creativity Quote by Charlie Watts

“To be able to play as slow as Al Jackson is almost impossible” lands like a musician’s inside joke that’s also a quiet thesis on groove. Charlie Watts isn’t praising sluggishness; he’s admiring a rare kind of control. In drumming, “slow” is a trap: when the tempo relaxes, the pocket gets exposed. Every micro-flinch, every anxious push ahead of the beat, suddenly becomes the song’s loudest mistake. So Watts frames it as “almost impossible” because it is: it takes iron time, restraint, and taste to make a band feel good without relying on speed or busyness to generate excitement.

The context matters. Watts, the Rolling Stones’ famously unshowy engine, is talking about Al Jackson Jr., the Stax house drummer behind Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Jackson’s playing is a masterclass in negative space: tight backbeats, minimal fills, a pulse that feels both relaxed and immovable. The magic is that the band sounds like it’s leaning back, but nothing ever sags. That tension - ease without looseness - is the whole trick.

Subtextually, Watts is tipping his hat to a Black American rhythm tradition that rock bands borrowed, chased, and often misunderstood. It’s also a self-portrait. Watts built a career on not overplaying, on letting swagger come from placement rather than volume. His compliment is really a standard: the highest virtuosity can look like doing almost nothing, perfectly.