Lyman Woodard
Encyclopedia
Lyman Woodard was a Detroit
-based jazz
organist noted for fusing his music with Latin and Afro-Cuban-inspired rhythms. From the late '60s, Woodard recorded with a number of Motown acts, and served as musical director for Martha and the Vandellas
. But seminal releases – like his 1975 cult-classic Saturday Night Special – and the legacy of his namesake outfit, the Lyman Woodard Organization, helped define Motor City's lesser-known jazz-funk heritage.
Before establishing the Lyman Woodard Organization, he comprised a jazz trio with drummer Melvin Davis and guitarist Dennis Coffey; the ensemble made its reputation playing numerous shows at a nightclub called Cobb's Corner. In 1979, Woodard returned to Cobb's Corner with the Organization to record his magnum opus, Don't Stop the Groove, for the Corridor label.
In March 2009, Wax Poetics
Records reissued a limited pressing of Saturday Night Special as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl.
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
-based jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
organist noted for fusing his music with Latin and Afro-Cuban-inspired rhythms. From the late '60s, Woodard recorded with a number of Motown acts, and served as musical director for Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...
. But seminal releases – like his 1975 cult-classic Saturday Night Special – and the legacy of his namesake outfit, the Lyman Woodard Organization, helped define Motor City's lesser-known jazz-funk heritage.
Before establishing the Lyman Woodard Organization, he comprised a jazz trio with drummer Melvin Davis and guitarist Dennis Coffey; the ensemble made its reputation playing numerous shows at a nightclub called Cobb's Corner. In 1979, Woodard returned to Cobb's Corner with the Organization to record his magnum opus, Don't Stop the Groove, for the Corridor label.
In March 2009, Wax Poetics
Wax Poetics
Wax Poetics is a bimonthly American music magazine dedicated to vintage and contemporary jazz, funk, soul, Latin, hip-hop, reggae, blues, and R&B in the crate-digger tradition; the name of the magazine is itself an allusion to vinyl records....
Records reissued a limited pressing of Saturday Night Special as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl.
Discography
- The Lyman Woodard Organization (Strata-East, 1975)
- Don't stop the groove (Corridor, 1979
- Dedicacion (Corridor, 1987)
- 74/93 Live At Last ! (Uuquipleu, 1993)
- Live at the 1996 Ford Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival (Corridor, 1996)
- with Robert Tye Virtues of the well (Corridor, 1998)