Julius Watkins (October 10, 1921 – April 4, 1977) was an American jazz musician, and one of the first French horn players in jazz. He won the Down Beat critics poll in 1960 and 1961 for "miscellaneous instrument" with French horn named as the instrument.Watkins was born in Detroit, Michigan. He began playing the French horn when he was nine years old, having played the trumpet, the recognized jazz instrument, for the Ernie Fields Orchestra in the mid-1940s.