Phil Woods
Encyclopedia
Philip Wells Woods is an American
jazz
bebop
alto saxophonist
, clarinetist, bandleader
and composer
.
, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music
and at The Juilliard School. His friend, Joe Lopes, coached him on clarinet as there was no saxophone major at Juilliard at the time. Although he did not copy Charlie "Bird" Parker
, bop's greatest saxophonist, he was known as the New Bird, a label which was also attached to other alto players such as Sonny Stitt
and Cannonball Adderley at one time or another in their careers.
After moving to France in 1968, Woods led The European Rhythm Machine, a group which tended toward avant-garde jazz
. He returned to the United States in 1972 and, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish an electronic group, he formed a quintet which was still performing, with some changes of personnel, in 2004. As his theme, Woods uses a piece titled "How's Your Mama?"
In 1979, Woods made the recording, More Live, at the Armadillo World Headquarters
in Austin, Texas. Perhaps his best known recorded work as a sideman is a pop
piece, his alto sax solo on Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are." He also played the alto sax solo on Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu," from their critically acclaimed 1975 album Katy Lied
, as well as Paul Simon's 1975 hit, Have a Good Time.
Although Woods is primarily a saxophonist he is also a fine clarinet player and solos can be found scattered through his recordings. One good example is his clarinet solo on Misirlou on the album Into The Woods (see discography below).
Woods' recordings have been nominated for seven Grammy awards and have won four.
Phil Woods married Chan Parker
, the widow of Charlie Parker
, and was stepfather to Chan's daughter, Kim.
Woods, along with Rick Chamberlain and Ed Joubert founded the organization Celebration of the Arts (COTA) in 1978 late one night in the bar at the Deerhead Inn in Delaware Water Gap
. The organization would eventually become the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts. Their initial goal was to help foster an appreciation of jazz and its relationship to other artistic disciplines. Each year, the organization hosts the Celebration of the Arts Festival
in the town of Delaware Water Gap
in September.
Phil Woods A Life in E Flat-Portrait of a Jazz Legend is a documentary film released in 2005 by Jazzed Media. Directed by Rich Lerner, and produced by Graham Carter, the film offers an intimate portrait of Woods during a recording session of the Jazzed Media album This is How I Feel About Quincy.
In 2007, Phil received a "Jazz Master" award from the National Endowment of the Arts.
With Gary Burton
With Lou Donaldson
With Bill Evans
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Stephane Grappelli
With Billy Joel
With Quincy Jones
With Grace Kelly
With Nellie McKay
With Thelonious Monk
With Oliver Nelson
With Shirley Scott
With Clark Terry
With Ben Webster
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
alto saxophonist
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, clarinetist, bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
Woods studied music with Lennie TristanoLennie Tristano
Leonard Joseph Tristano was a jazz pianist, composer and teacher of jazz improvisation. He performed in the cool jazz, bebop, post bop and avant-garde jazz genres. He remains a somewhat overlooked figure in jazz history, but his enormous originality and dazzling work as an improviser have long...
, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
and at The Juilliard School. His friend, Joe Lopes, coached him on clarinet as there was no saxophone major at Juilliard at the time. Although he did not copy Charlie "Bird" Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, bop's greatest saxophonist, he was known as the New Bird, a label which was also attached to other alto players such as Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
and Cannonball Adderley at one time or another in their careers.
After moving to France in 1968, Woods led The European Rhythm Machine, a group which tended toward avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
. He returned to the United States in 1972 and, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish an electronic group, he formed a quintet which was still performing, with some changes of personnel, in 2004. As his theme, Woods uses a piece titled "How's Your Mama?"
In 1979, Woods made the recording, More Live, at the Armadillo World Headquarters
Armadillo World Headquarters
The Armadillo World Headquarters was the premier music hall and entertainment center in Austin, Texas, United States from 1970 to 1980.-History:...
in Austin, Texas. Perhaps his best known recorded work as a sideman is a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
piece, his alto sax solo on Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are." He also played the alto sax solo on Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu," from their critically acclaimed 1975 album Katy Lied
Katy Lied
Katy Lied is the fourth album by Steely Dan, originally released in 1975 by ABC Records. It went gold and peaked at #13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" also charted at #37....
, as well as Paul Simon's 1975 hit, Have a Good Time.
Although Woods is primarily a saxophonist he is also a fine clarinet player and solos can be found scattered through his recordings. One good example is his clarinet solo on Misirlou on the album Into The Woods (see discography below).
Woods' recordings have been nominated for seven Grammy awards and have won four.
Phil Woods married Chan Parker
Chan Parker
Chan Woods , well known as Chan Parker, was a wife of jazz musician Charlie Parker and later musician Phil Woods....
, the widow of Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
, and was stepfather to Chan's daughter, Kim.
Woods, along with Rick Chamberlain and Ed Joubert founded the organization Celebration of the Arts (COTA) in 1978 late one night in the bar at the Deerhead Inn in Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania
Delaware Water Gap is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located adjacent to the Delaware Water Gap, the pass through which the Lackawanna Corridor and Interstate 80 run across the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border along the Delaware River.The population of Delaware Water...
. The organization would eventually become the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts. Their initial goal was to help foster an appreciation of jazz and its relationship to other artistic disciplines. Each year, the organization hosts the Celebration of the Arts Festival
Celebration of the Arts Festival
The Celebration of the Arts festival, or COTA for short, is an annual event in September located in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania. COTA is presented in cooperation with the Borough of Delaware Water Gap, Castle Hill Development, Inc., and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.-The...
in the town of Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania
Delaware Water Gap is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located adjacent to the Delaware Water Gap, the pass through which the Lackawanna Corridor and Interstate 80 run across the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border along the Delaware River.The population of Delaware Water...
in September.
Phil Woods A Life in E Flat-Portrait of a Jazz Legend is a documentary film released in 2005 by Jazzed Media. Directed by Rich Lerner, and produced by Graham Carter, the film offers an intimate portrait of Woods during a recording session of the Jazzed Media album This is How I Feel About Quincy.
In 2007, Phil received a "Jazz Master" award from the National Endowment of the Arts.
As leader
- 1954 Pot Pie (Prestige/OJC)
- 1955 Woodlore (OJC)
- 1956 Pairing Off (OJC)
- 1957 Four Altos (Prestige Records 7116) - with Gene QuillGene QuillDaniel Eugene Quill was an American alto saxophonist known for his bebop jazz records with Phil Woods. He and Woods recorded as Phil and Quill...
, Hal SteinHal SteinHal Stein was an American jazz musician and Bebop saxophone player. He died of lung cancer on April 27, 2008 in his home in Oakland, CA, at the age of 79....
, Sahib ShihabSahib ShihabSahib Shihab was an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:... - 1957 Sugan (OJC)
- 1961 Rights Of Swing (Candid)
- 1967 Greek CookingGreek CookingGreek Cooking is an album by American saxophonist Phil Woods featuring performances recorded in 1967 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden awarded the album 3 stars stating "Probably one of the more unusual recordings in Phil Woods' considerable discography, Greek...
(Impulse!) - 1969 Round Trip (VerveVerve RecordsVerve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
) - 1971 Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival (Embryo RecordsEmbryo RecordsEmbryo Records was a jazz and rock record label founded by Herbie Mann as a division of Atlantic Records, itself distributed by the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records. The label released albums in the years 1969 through 1977.-Discography:...
) - 1974 Musique du BoisMusique du BoisMusique du Bois is a 1974 studio album by jazz musician Phil Woods. Originally released on the Muse Records, it has been multiply reissued on CD by 32 Jazz and Pony Canyon...
, - 1975 Images,; #35 on Jazz Albums, Grammy, "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance".
- 1976 The New Phil Woods Album,; #39 on Jazz Albums.
- 1976 Altology (Prestige)
- 1977 Live from the Show Boat,; #28 on Jazz Albums. Grammy, "Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Individual or Group".
- 1979 Phil Woods Quartet Live (Clean Cuts)
- 1980 Phil Woods/Lew TabackinLew TabackinLew Tabackin is a jazz flautist and a tenor saxophonist. He is married to Toshiko Akiyoshi, who is a jazz pianist and a composer/arranger.-Biography:...
(Evidence) - 1982 Live from New York (Palo Alto RecordsPalo Alto RecordsPalo Alto Records was a jazz record label that released most of its discography in the 1980s. The label was founded in 1981 by Jim Benham, who was a Palo Alto, California resident. The artistic director was Herb Wong. In 1985 the company ceased its activities...
) - 1982 More Live,; Grammy, "Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Individual or Group".
- 1983 At the Vanguard; Grammy, "Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Individual or Group".
- 1984 Integrity (Red)
- 1984 Heaven (Evidence)
- 1987 Bop Stew; Bouquet (Concord)
- 1988 Evolution; Here's To My Lady (Concord)
- 1988 Embracable You (Philology)
- 1989 Flash (Concord)
- 1989 Here's to My Lady (Chesky); #12 on Jazz Albums.
- 1990 All Bird Children; Real Life (Concord)
- 1990 Phil's Mood (Philology)
- 1990 My Man Benny, My Man Phil, with Benny Carter (Musicmasters)
- 1991 Flowers For Hodges (Concord)
- 1991 Full House (Milestone)
- 1991 Real Life, The Little Big Band (Chesky)
- 1994 Just Friends; Our Monk (Philology)
- 1995 Plays The Music Of Jim McNeely (TCB)
- 1996 Mile High Jazz Live In Denver (Concord)
- 1996 Astor and Elis (Chesky)
- 1996 The Comlete Concert (JMS) mit Gordon BeckGordon BeckGordon James Beck was an English jazz pianist.Beck was born in Brixton, London, and attended Pinner County Grammar School . He studied piano in his youth, but decided to go into a career as an engineering technical draughtsman...
- 1996 Into The Woods (Concord CCD-4699)
- 1997 Celebration! (Concord)
- 1998 The Rev And I (Blue Note RecordsBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - 2006 Pass the Bebop (Cowbell Music) mit Benjamin Koppel and Alex RielAlex RielAlex Riel, , is a Danish jazz and rock drummer. His first group Alex Riel/Palle Mikkelborg Quintet won Montreux Grand Prix Award at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968 and it was published in Billboards June 1968 edition.-Biography:Riel has recorded with, among others, Kenny Drew, Kenny Werner, Bob...
Trio: - 2006 Song for Sysiphus (Passport Audio)
As sideman
With Manny AlbamManny Albam
Manny Albam was a jazz baritone saxophone player who eventually put the instrument down in favour of a long and respected career as an arranger, writer, and teacher.-Biography:The son of Lithuanian immigrants, who was born in the Dominican Republic when his mother went into labour en route...
- Jazz Goes to the MoviesJazz Goes to the MoviesJazz Goes to the Movies is an album by American jazz arranger and conductor Manny Albam recorded in 1962 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1962)
With Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
- Who is Gary Burton?Who is Gary Burton?Who is Gary Burton? is the second album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1962 and released on the RCA label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden awarded the album 4 stars stating "The talented young vibraphonist had already proven himself as a sideman and was breaking new ground as a...
(RCA, 1962) - The Groovy Sound of MusicThe Groovy Sound of MusicThe Groovy Sound of Music is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton recorded in 1964 and released on the RCA label which features jazz interpretations of tunes from the Broadway musical The Sound of Music written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Ken Dryden...
(RCA, 1963)
With Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
- Rough House BluesRough House BluesRough House Blues is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Cadet label in 1964 and performed Donaldson with Dave Burns, Ernie Royal, Phil Woods, Bob Ashton, Danny Bank, Lloyd Mayers Jr., Richard Davis, and Grady Tate, conducted and arranged by Oliver Nelson.The album was...
(1964)
With Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
- SymbiosisSymbiosis (album)-Track listing:# "Symbiosis 1st Movement - 24:58# "Symbiosis 2nd Movement - 15:55*Recorded in New York City on February 11, 12 & 14, 1974.-Personnel:*Bill Evans - piano, electric piano...
(1974)
With Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
- RhythmstickRhythmstickRhythmstick is a 1990 album and video by Dizzy Gillespie and CTI Records All-Stars.-Tracklisting:#"Barbados" #"Friday Night at the Cadillac Club" #"Nana" #"Caribe"...
(1990)
With Stephane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
- Classic Sessions: Stephane Grappelli (1987)
With Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
- The StrangerThe Stranger (album)The Stranger is the fifth studio album by musician Billy Joel, released in 1977 . While his four previous albums had been moderate chart successes, this was his breakthrough album, and is generally regarded by critics as his magnum opus, spending six weeks at #2 in the U.S. album charts...
(1977)
With Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
- The QuintessenceThe QuintessenceThe Quintessence is an album released by Quincy Jones and his orchestra. It was released in 1961, his only effort for the Impulse! Records label...
(1961)
With Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly (musician)
Grace Kelly is an Asian-American jazz saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and bandleader.Kelly became the youngest ever musician voted to the Down Beat Magazine's Critics Poll at age 16...
- The Man with the Hat (2011)
With Nellie McKay
Nellie McKay
Nellie McKay , is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and former stand-up comedienne, noted for her critically acclaimed albums, and for her Broadway debut in The Threepenny Opera , for which she won a Theatre World Award...
- Obligatory VillagersObligatory VillagersObligatory Villagers is the third studio album by Nellie McKay, was released on September 25, 2007. The album is brief compared to both of her past releases, which both had total times of around an hour. However, the total time of Villagers is roughly equivalent to that of the individual discs on...
(2007)
With Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
- The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town HallThe Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town HallThe Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall is an album by Thelonious Monk, originally released in 1959. The concert included Hall Overton’s arrangements on Monk’s tunes...
(1959)
With Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
- More Blues and the Abstract TruthMore Blues and the Abstract TruthMore Blues and the Abstract Truth is an album by American jazz composer, conductor and arranger Oliver Nelson featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964) - Oliver Nelson Plays MichelleOliver Nelson Plays MichelleOliver Nelson Plays Michelle is an album by American jazz composer, arranger and saxophonist Oliver Nelson, featuring solos by Nelson and Phil Woods, recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1966) - HappeningsHappenings (Hank Jones & Oliver Nelson album)Happenings is an album by American jazz pianist Hank Jones and composer/arranger Oliver Nelson featuring performances recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
with Hank JonesHank JonesHenry "Hank" Jones was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award...
(Impulse!, 1966) - The Spirit of '67 with Pee Wee RussellPee Wee RussellCharles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....
(Impulse!, 1967) - The Kennedy DreamThe Kennedy DreamThe Kennedy Dream is an album by American composer/arranger Oliver Nelson recorded in 1967 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 3½ stars stating "In February of 1967, Oliver Nelson recognized Kennedy's contributions and assembled a big band to...
(Impulse!, 1967)
With Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist. She was most known for working with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, and with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis...
- Roll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big BandsRoll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big BandsRoll 'Em: Shirley Scott Plays the Big Bands is an album by American jazz organist Shirley Scott recorded in 1966 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1966)
With Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
- The Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark TerryThe Happy Horns of Clark Terry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Clark Terry featuring performances recorded in 1964 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1964)
With Ben Webster
Ben Webster
Benjamin Francis Webster , a.k.a. "The Brute" or "Frog," was an influential American jazz tenor saxophonist. Webster, born in Kansas City, Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young...
- See You at the FairSee You at the FairSee You at the Fair is an album by jazz saxophonist Ben Webster, released on Impulse! Records.-Track listing:#"Someone to Watch over Me" 4:30#"In a Mellow Tone" 4:26#"Over the Rainbow" 4:42...
(1964)