Phil Woods
Albums
At first glance, this LP by Phil Woods might appear to be a rather easily dismissed commercial affair, but just eyeballing a record jacket can be deceiving. Woods' conception of a [more]
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Other than an album for the Italian Red label the previous March, this CD from the defunct Black-Hawk label was the first to feature trumpeter Tom Harrell with the Phil Woods Quintet. At this [more]
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For this orchestra date, Phil Woods is backed by strings, brass, woodwinds and a rhythm section arranged and conducted by Michel Legrand (who also contributed three pieces). [more]
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Altoists Phil Woods and Gene Quill always made for a mutually inspiring team. Both of the similar-sounding musicians were competitive, influenced by [more]
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This is a bit of an unusual outing for Phil Woods, as Tommy Flanagan and Red Mitchell are his only musical partners for these 1981 sessions. The [more]
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It's little surprise that the Phil Woods Quintet shines during this collection of standards from the movies, but their fresh approach to each of these very familiar [more]
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Producer Graham Carter deserves high praise for pairing alto sax legend Phil Woods with trumpeter/ flugelhornist Carl Saunders in a CD tribute to Henry Mancini. The [more]
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On this CD, altoist Phil Woods pays tribute to arranger-composer Quincy Jones with whom he worked on several occasions in the 1950s and '60s. Woods' quintet, [more]
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At a 2004 West Coast jazz festival presented by producer Ken Poston, altoist Phil Woods was featured performing Marty Paich arrangements with the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra. [more]
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Appearances
When I went to Atlantic, they just sat me down at the piano and let me do my thing. -Aretha Franklin
Queen of Soul: The Atlantic Recordings is an 86-track, four-disc box set that covers Aretha Franklin's Atlantic career, spanning from 1967's {"I Never Loved [more]
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This is one of pianist-composer Thelonious Monk's greatest recordings and represents a high point in his career. Performing at Philharmonic Hall in New York, Monk [more]
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This is not and cannot be the Complete Cole Porter Songbooks, but it's a marvelous collection of 48 timeless jazz interpretations drawn from the Verve catalog. [more]
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One of the giants of American popular song gets his due with this three-disc Verve box, comprising a trio of separately released compilations. Though Mercer's [more]
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![Domination [Bonus Tracks]](/cache/JHS/g9/130x130_on-sale_g96849p4mxj.png)
One of the lesser sessions from Cannonball Adderley's days with Capitol, Domination features arrangements by Oliver Nelson and William Fischer. Recorded in April of [more]
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Blue Note Plays the Beatles contains 11 previously released performances by jazz artists dipping into the Lennon/McCartney songbook. When deciding to cover such [more]
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It is extremely difficult to believe that Benny Carter was 82 years old at the time of this recording, for his strong sound (nothing feeble about his playing) [more]
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This recording features singer Joe Williams backed by a studio orchestra headed and arranged by Jimmy Jones. Williams mostly sticks to blues-oriented material but there is a [more]
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As part of their 40th anniversary, the Modern Jazz Quartet welcomed ten guest artists to their Celebration CD: Bobby McFerrin (brilliant on
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![Rhapsody in Blue [Blue Note]](/cache/JHS/d4/130x130_on-sale_d40978c7jl6.png)
This CD sampler has 18 songs written by the Gershwins and recorded during a 24-year period for labels now owned by the Blue Note family. Featured are the Billy May [more]
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Biography
- Born Nov 2nd 1931 in Springfield, MA
One of the true masters of the bop vocabulary, Phil Woods has had his own sound since the mid-'50s and stuck to his musical guns throughout a remarkably productive career. There has never been a doubt that he is one of the top alto saxophonists alive, and he has lost neither his enthusiasm nor his creativity through the years.
Woods' first alto was left to him by an uncle, and he started playing seriously when he was 12. He gigged and studied locally until 1948, when he moved to New York. Woods studied with Lennie Tristano, at the Manhattan School of Music, and at Juilliard, where he majored in clarinet. He worked with Charlie Barnet (1954), Jimmy Raney (1955), George Wallington, the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra, Buddy Rich (1958-1959), Quincy Jones (1959-1961), and Benny Goodman (for BG's famous 1962 tour of the Soviet Union), but has mostly headed his own groups since 1955, including co-leadership of a combo with fellow altoist Gene Quill in the '50s logically known as "Phil & Quill." Woods, who married the late Charlie Parker's former wife Chan in the 1950s (and became the stepfather to singer Kim Parker), was sometimes thought of as "the new Bird" due to his brilliance in bop settings, but he never really sounded like a copy of Parker.
Woods popped up in a variety of settings in the 1960s -- on Benny Carter's classic Further Definitions record, touring Europe with the short-lived Thelonious Monk Nonet, and appearing on studio dates like the soundtracks to {#The Hustler} and {#Blow Up}. Always interested in jazz education (although he believes that there is no better way to learn jazz than to gig and travel constantly), Woods taught at an arts camp in Pennsylvania in the summers of 1964-1967. Discouraged with the jazz scene in the U.S., he moved to France in 1968. For the next few years, Woods led a very advanced group, the European Rhythm Machine, which leaned toward the avant-garde and included pianist George Gruntz. Their recordings still sound fresh and exciting today, although this venture would only be a detour in Woods' bebop life. In 1972, he returned to the U.S. and tried unsuccessfully to lead an electronic group that featured keyboardist Pete Robinson.
In 1973, Woods formed a quintet with pianist Mike Melillo, bassist Steve Gilmore, drummer Bill Goodwin, and guitarist Harry Leahey that had much greater success. Their recording Live at the Showboat officially launched the band, which today, after a few personnel changes, still tours the world. After Leahey left in 1978, it was known as the Phil Woods Quartet until trumpeter Tom Harrell (1983-1989) joined; his spot has since been assumed by trombonist Hal Crook (1989-1992) and trumpeter Brian Lynch. Pianist Melillo went out on his own in 1980, and his successors have been Hal Galper (1980-1990), Jim McNeely (1990-1995), and Bill Charlap; Gilmore and Goodwin have been with Woods since the group's start. Not just a bebop repertory band, Woods' ensembles have developed their own repertoire, taken plenty of chances, and stretched themselves while sticking to his straight-ahead path.
Woods contributed the famous alto solo to Billy Joel's hit recording of "Just the Way You Are" and has been one of Michel Legrand's favorite artists, guesting with Legrand on an occasional basis; he has made dozens of rewarding recordings himself through the years. He debuted as a leader in 1954 and has since recorded for Prestige, Savoy, RCA, Mode, Epic, Candid (the brilliant The Right of Swing in 1961), Impulse, MGM, Verve, Embryo, Testament, Muse, Omnisound, Enja, and Chesky, and has recorded with his Quintet/Quartet for RCA, Gryphon, Adelphi, Clean Cuts, SeaBreeze (two sets adding Chris Swansen's inventive synthesizer to the band), Red, Antilles, Palo Alto, BlackHawk, Denon, and quite extensively for Concord. Some key sets include 1960's Rights of Swing on Candid, 1974's Musique Du Bois on 32 Jazz, 1981's Birds of a Feather from Antilles, and 2002's Americans Swinging in Paris from EMI.
An Italian label, Philogy (which has some broadcasts and live performances from Woods' bands), is named after the popular and still brilliant altoist. Still going strong well into the 21st century, Woods cut a live session with the Los Angeles Jazz Orchestra in 2005 that was released by Jazz Media in 2006. American Songbook, which features Woods' treatment of pop and jazz standards, appeared from Kind of Blue later that same year. In 2009, after years of attempting to secure the rights to interpret the work of writer A.A. Milne, Woods released Children's Suite -- a tribute to Milne's classic book Winnie the Pooh. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
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