He formed the band Bobby Watson & Horizon with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis,[2] with whom he played throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

[5] In 1991, they released the album Post Motown Bop on Blue Note Records, with John Fordham in Q Magazine describing it as "gleaming, glossy bebop".

A resident of New York for most of his professional life, he served as a member of the adjunct faculty and taught saxophone privately at William Paterson University from 1985 to 1986 and the Manhattan School of Music from 1996 to 1999.

[5] He is involved with the Thelonious Monk Institute's annual Jazz in America high school outreach program.

[7] As the director of jazz studies at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music, while still managing a worldwide performing schedule, Watson's ensembles at UMKC have received several awards.