Home » Jazz Musicians » Mike Wofford

Mike Wofford

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Mike Wofford grew up in San Diego, California where he began piano lessons at the age of seven. He later studied briefly with a local jazz piano teacher, Bill Franks, an admirer of Teddy Wilson, who primarily emphasized harmonic creativity in improvising rather than technique. Wofford is otherwise self-taught and was first influenced by hearing recordings of Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver.

Mike began his professional career recording with Slim Gaillard in 1961. That same year he also joined Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-stars. In 1962 Wofford became a member of Shorty Rogers and his Giants and also recorded with Mel Torme on the album “Comin’ Home Baby.”

While becoming active in the Los Angeles jazz club scene, he also toured with vocalist June Christy as her accompanist in 1963, and recorded with vibraphonist Gary Burton in drummer Larry Bunker’s quartet.

Wofford’s first trio album under his own name, “Strawberry Wine,” on Epic Records was released in 1964 and he was subsequently asked to join Shelly Manne’s quintet at Shelly’s Manne-hole in Hollywood. His musical relationship with Manne would continue until the drummer’s passing in 1984.

Wofford became more and more in demand as a free-lance studio pianist working in TV, film scoring and recording in general. During this period he recorded or performed with, among others, The Ventures, Joan Baez, The Jackson Five, Cher, John Lennon, Donna Summer, Sergio Mendes, Harry Nilsson and Roger McGuinn. He has also recorded and performed with jazz legends Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Joe Pass, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Ray Brown, Tom Scott, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Joe Henderson, Art Farmer, Kenny Burrell, Benny Golson, Oliver Nelson, James Moody, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Zoot Sims, Frank Rosolino and Harry “Sweets” Edison, among many others.

In 1979 and again in 1983 he toured as Sarah Vaughan’s conductor and pianist, a position he also later held with Ella Fitzgerald from 1989 to 1993.

Most recently he has worked and recorded with John Clayton, Matt Wilson, Oliver Lake, Jeff Hamilton, Lee Konitz, Terell Stafford, Kevin Mahogany, and Vinny Golia.

Wofford now works primarily with his own trio and quintet, as well as with his wife, noted jazz flutist Holly Hofmann, in duo, quartet and string orchestra settings. They are both Capri Records artists. Source: Thomas Burns, CEO Capri Records

Tags

1
Album Review

Mike Wofford: It's Personal

Read "It's Personal" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Sono appena una decina i dischi a nome di Mike Wofford, a fronte di una prestigiosa carriera iniziata in California negli ultimi anni del West Coast Jazz e tutt'ora in pieno svolgimento all'età di 75 anni. Dotato di una solida preparazione classica, ha iniziato a esibirsi con Shorty Rogers, Art Pepper, Chet Baker e Maynard Ferguson, ha collaborato a lungo (dal 1967 al 1980) nel quintetto di Shelly Manne e con formazioni orchestrali (Oliver Nelson, Bud ...

3
Album Review

Mike Wofford: It's Personal

Read "It's Personal" reviewed by Jeff Dayton-Johnson


Pianist Mike Wofford can boast decades of high-caliber sideman gigs: notably with vocalists Ella Fitzgerald (for whom he served as music director), Mel Tormé and Sarah Vaughan, as well as drummer Shelly Manne, saxophonist Phil Woods, guitarist Joe Pass and others. His studio work is amply represented on records by a dizzying variety of artists. And his frequent collaborations with his wife, flutist Holly Hofmann, have been warmly received. Solo sets are not unknown in Wofford's lengthy discography but, on ...

88
Album Review

Mike Wofford / Holly Hofmann Quintet: Turn Signal

Read "Turn Signal" reviewed by Larry Taylor


Holly Hofmann is an energetic, swinging, straight-ahead jazz flautist who has been performing for over 30 years. Mike Wofford, her husband, a recognized piano master, co-leads on Turn Signal, playing with an understated, intuitively rhythmic style. The two now live in San Diego, California, but travel extensively for performances. Recording her first disc for Capri in 1989, Turn Signal is her twelfth CD as a leader, in a career that has included collaborations with pianists Kenny Barron ...

86
Album Review

Mike Wofford / Holly Hofmann Quintet: Turn Signal

Read "Turn Signal" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Down in out-of-the-way San Diego, California (that's out-of-the-way in a New York-centric jazz world), flautist Holly Hofmann and pianist Mike Wofford have been steadily making world-class jazz for a couple of decades. Wofford--who has spent much of his career in supporting roles, backing vocalists Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, saxophonists Zoot Sims and Benny Carter, and many more--is evolving into a first-rate leader. His Live at Athanaeum (Capri Records, 2004) demonstrated the pianist's acumen in the trio context, while Live ...

158
Album Review

Mike Wofford Trio: Live at Athenaeum Jazz

Read "Live at Athenaeum Jazz" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Mike Wofford is one of those unsung yet enormously talented pianists (there are a lot of them) whose names rarely surface in the so-called “best of popularity contests (excuse me, polls) conducted by various jazz periodicals. One of the reasons, of course, is that Wofford makes his home in San Diego; another, closely related to the first, is that he hasn't the name recognition of a Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Kenny Barron, Hank Jones, Cecil Taylor, Oscar Peterson, ...

93
Album Review

Mike Wofford: Time Cafe

Read "Time Cafe" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The piano, Mike Wofford writes, is an “instrument of endless possibilities,” many of which are brought to light on his first album for Azica Records. Wofford certainly is qualified to advance such an idea, having played piano for almost forty years with a veritable who’s who of celebrated Jazz artists including Shelly Manne, Chet Baker, Bud Shank, Shorty Rogers, Mel Tormé, Joe Pass, Gary Burton, Lee Konitz, Sarah Vaughan, Lockjaw Davis, Zoot Sims, Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Kenny Burrell, Art ...

139
Album Review

Mike Wofford: Time Caf

Read "Time Caf" reviewed by Dave Nathan


P>While Mike Wofford has a very respectable discography as a leader going back to 1966, it's his work as the consummate accompanist that many remember. He has backed some of the great vocalists of our time including Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Lorez Alexandria. His presence has also been a stabilizing effect for newer vocalists including Mary Ann Douglas, Jackie Ryan and Madeline Eastman. But on this album he shows he is pianist of considerable skill in his ...

Read more articles

Video / DVD

Mike Wofford: Jerome Kern

Mike Wofford: Jerome Kern

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Sometimes you must give an artist time to reveal himself. That's certainly the case with pianist Mike Wofford, who has been recording jazz since 1962, starting with The Shorty Rogers Quintet With Guest Vocalist Jeri Southern. Over the 18 years that followed, Wofford accompanied Larry Bunker (Live at Shelly's Manne-Hole), Joe Pass (Joy Spring), Shelly Manne (Jazz Gunn, Perk Up, Daktari and many others), Howard Roberts (Antelope Freeway and others), Oliver Nelson (Skull Session, Stolen Moments), Bobby Shew (Debut), Sam ...

Recording

Mike Wofford: It's Personal

Mike Wofford: It's Personal

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Pianist Mike Wofford doesn't waste notes. Each one has purpose, as if his improvisations were worked out in advance. Of course, that's not the case. But his taste and beautiful choices say a great deal about his craftsmanship and the many moods he's able to create with engaging chord voicings. Wofford is a pianists you want to play all of your favorite songs, because you know he will take them to new, exciting places.  Wofford's remarkable talents can be heard ...

79

Recording

Capri Records Releases Jake Fryer's New CD "In Good Company" Featuring Bud Shank, Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson & Joe La Barbara

Capri Records Releases Jake Fryer's New CD "In Good Company" Featuring Bud Shank, Mike Wofford, Bob Magnusson & Joe La Barbara

Source: Nancy Hudgins

Last Recording Date for Shank, Who Passed Away The Day After Recording When the British saxophonist Jake Fryer walked out of Studio West in San Diego on April 1st 2009 after completing this recording In Good Time (Capri Records, January 18, 2011), he couldn't have imagined that Bud Shank would not have survived another day. Bud went home the day after the recording and passed away a few hours later. “The last words Bud said to me with a warm ...

136

Interview

Correspondence: About Mike Wofford

Correspondence: About Mike Wofford

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Rifftides Washington, DC, correspondent John Birchard has rediscovered pianist Mike Wofford and filed this appreciation:

I've been listening lately to Mike Wofford. I first heard his work on an Epic LP titled Strawberry Wine back in the early 60's and was impressed, especially with a couple of his originals, “Strawberry Wine" and “Three For All." In '67, he did another trio LP, Sure Thing, on Discovery, produced by Albert Marx, that I still have on my LP shelf. In '76, ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

It's Personal

Capri Records
2013

buy

Turn Signal

Capri Records
2011

buy

Live at Athenaeum Jazz

Unknown label
2005

buy

Time Cafe

Azica Records
2001

buy

For Heaven's Sake

BluPort Records
2001

buy

Live at Maybeck...

Concord Music Group
1992

buy

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.