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Phil Woods

Phil Woods is an NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods joined the jazz music scene in New York during the late 1940’s when bebop was gaining popularity as the new direction of American jazz. After graduating from Juilliard Music School Phil quickly gained fame by joining the Birdland All Stars Tour of 1956, and then the Dizzy Gillespie State Department Tour throughout the Middle East. During the late 1950’s Phil worked with jazz luminaries including Quincy Jones and Thelonious Monk. Phil’s partnership with Gene Quill in the late 1950’s established Phil as a major jazz star and led to many exciting recordings during the 1960’s. After moving to Europe in 1968 Phil formed the “European Rhythm Machine” which kept Phil busy during the challenging period for jazz in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Phil returned to the United States in the early 1970’s and had one of the first major “crossover” hits in the popular field by recording the now legendary solo in Billy Joel’s top selling song “Just the Way You Are”. Phil received several Grammy nominations and awards during the 1970’s and formed a 30 year working relationship with Quintet members Bill Goodwin and Steve Gilmore. Phil currently resides in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and tours the world sharing his gifted interpretations of the Great American Songbook, while continuing to carry the torch of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the bebop music idiom.

~ Graham Carter, Producer

Tags

54
Radio & Podcasts

November Birthday Salutes

Read "November Birthday Salutes" reviewed by Marc Cohn


It's time to celebrate November birthdays! Among the worthies, we also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Phil Woods recording Alive and Well in Paris, which was slated for release on Impulse! in the States, but never released here; there must be a story about this, but I'm in the dark. It is an absolutely stunning session. In addition to our celebrants in the track list, we salute bassist Sam Jones, pianist Joe Bushkin and Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn. Enjoy ...

20
Rediscovery

The Phil Woods Six: Live from the Showboat

Read "The Phil Woods Six: Live from the Showboat" reviewed by John Kelman


The Phil Woods SixLive from the ShowboatSony Music Japan2015 (1977) With the sad passing of Phil Woods on September 29, 2015, what better way to honor the career of this alto (and occasionally soprano) saxophone giant with the Rediscovery of a live album that, long out of print--and previously only available on CD in a truncated, single-disc edition that excised some of its most exhilarating moments--has finally seen the light of day in its entirety ...

10
Catching Up With

Phil Woods: 1931-2015

Read "Phil Woods: 1931-2015" reviewed by AAJ Staff


In memory of NEA Jazz Master, Phil Woods. This article was previously published in November 2002. All About Jazz: Looking back on the almost three decade history of your Quintet, one question springs immediately to mind. You've had the same rhythm section of Steve Gilmore on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums ever since you formed the band back in the early 1970s. Most jazz musicians end up hopping around from group to group constantly. So how have ...

1
Album Review

Phil Woods, Vic Juris: Songs One

Read "Songs One" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Dodici più o meno celebrati standard, raccolti in un arco temporale di oltre trent'anni (ogni titolo reca accanto il suo bravo “anno di nascita," che la nostra tracklist conserva) costituiscono il trampolino di lancio per questo nuovo album (incisione del dicembre 2014) dell'ottantatreenne sassofonista di Springfield. Gli è accanto il chitarrista Vic Juris, di cui abbiamo nella mente soprattutto la lunga collaborazione con Dave Liebman, oltre a svariati lavori in proprio, condotti sempre nel segno di un buon gusto mai ...

2
Album Review

Phil Woods & The Festival Orchestra: New Celebration

Read "New Celebration" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Album celebrativo, nel rispetto del titolo, e pruriti del tutto prossimi al grado zero: ecco cosa ci offre quest'ennesimo album tardo (incisione dell'aprile 2013) di un monumento come Phil Woods, solista-direttore di una big band che sfoggia un sound d'insieme che più in the tradition non si potrebbe. È ovvio che non è questa l'idea di jazz che ci piace veder divulgata: una musica prigioniera di un repertorio (nello specifico di una “maniera" compositiva, visto che i ...

6
Album Review

Phil Woods & the Festival Orchestra: New Celebration

Read "New Celebration" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Any album with the renowned Phil Woods leading a big band (or jazz orchestra) is cause for celebration, especially so when he has written all but one of the charts and takes the bulk of the alto solos. More than fifteen years have passed since Woods last recorded with the COTA Festival Orchestra from his home precinct in Delaware Gap, PA, and that earlier album (Celebration!, Concord 4770) was nominated for a Grammy Award. This New Celebration, Woods' second recording ...

3
Album Review

Phil Woods: Right To Swing

Read "Right To Swing" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Alto saxophonist great Phil Woods and trumpeter/educator Dr. Bob Lark have a long history of recording together producing notable outings like Live at the Jazz Showcase (Jazzed Media, 2009) and In Her Eyes (Jazzed Media, 2006)--both with The Bob Lark / Phil Woods Quintet. The saxophonist association with Lark and the DePaul University bands has also resulted in three previous albums all with the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble. Right To Swing is now their fourth album together combining performances from ...

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1

Recording

Bob Lark and Phil Woods

Bob Lark and Phil Woods

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

By my count, trumpeter and flugelhornist Bob Lark and alto saxophonist Phil Woods have recorded six albums together prior to Woods' death in 2015. Their final collaboration, Thick as Thieves, recorded in 2009 at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, was just released. It's a solid swinger, despite my initial trepidation over the predictable song choices. What keeps the album from being predictable is the quintet's ability to breathe fresh fire into bop standards you may not feel you need to hear again. ...

1

Video / DVD

Phil Woods: 1960

Phil Woods: 1960

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

I'm just back from jny: Kansas City and will have a full BBQ report this coming weekend. For now, dig Phil Woods in 1960 with the Quincy Jones Big Band and his own ensemble in Paris: Here's Quincy Jones's big band (with Phil) in Belgium playing Birth of a Big Band, Moanin', Lester Leeps In, The Gypsy, Tickle Toe, Everybody's Blues and Big Red. The band featured Clark Terry (tp,flhrn,vcl); Benny Bailey, Lennie Johnson, Floyd Standifer (tp,flhrn); Quentin Jackson, Jimmy ...

3

Event

Tickets Moving Fast For May 14 Memorial Concert For Phil Woods In Pittsfield, Mass.

Tickets Moving Fast For May 14 Memorial Concert For Phil Woods In Pittsfield, Mass.

Source: Ed Bride Associates

Tribute in Pittsfield, Mass., to Feature the Jazz Master’s Protégé Grace Kelly With Brian Lynch, Bill Mays, Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin Berkshires Jazz, Inc. has announced that tickets are on sale, and moving briskly, for the May 14 memorial concert in honor of the late alto saxophonist Phil Woods. To take place at Barrington Stage, in Pittsfield, Mass., the tribute will be performed by a gathering of the NEA Jazz Master’s quintet, with Brian Lynch (trumpet), Bill Mays (piano), ...

3

Obituary

Phil Woods (1931-2015)

Phil Woods (1931-2015)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Phil Woods, a highly accomplished alto saxophonist who married Charlie Parker's widow, developed one of the most signature sounds on the instrument in small-group and big-band settings, carried on the bebop tradition long after others had moved on, became an exquisite composer-arranger and was perhaps best known for his solo on Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are, died yesterday, on Sept. 29. He was 83. As an artist, Phil had an admirable and elevated level of intensity, determination and ambition—not ...

2

Obituary

Phil Woods, 1931-2015

Phil Woods, 1931-2015

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Phil Woods died today, less than a month after he announced his retirement from playing. He was 83. Woods’ longtime drummer Bill Goodwin told me this afternoon that the veteran alto saxophonist “went out on his own terms,” electing to stop treatment for the emphysema that for years slowed—but did not stop—his career as a performer and bandleader. One of the most renowned of the saxophonists inspired by Charlie Parker, Woods was a perennial poll winner. His quartet with bassist ...

1

Obituary

Jazz has lost another true master - Phil Woods

Jazz has lost another true master - Phil Woods

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes

Word spread very quickly through the jazz community this afternoon that alto saxophonist and NEA Jazz Master (Class of 2007) Phil Woods passed away today. He was 83.  The news came less than a month after Woods told the audience at a September 4 concert at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh that he had just played his final gig. He had long suffered from emphysema and performed for several years while using oxygen. The Springfield MA native was a ...

7

Obituary

Delaware Water Gap jazz legend Phil Woods dies

Delaware Water Gap jazz legend Phil Woods dies

Source: Michael Ricci

Jazz legend Phil Woods died Tuesday morning, according to Bensing-Thomas Funeral Home in Stroudsburg. He was 83 years old. Woods, who lived in Delaware Water Gap since 1976 and is one of the founders of the prestigious DWG Celebration of the Arts jazz and arts festival, recorded with jazz visionaries as Quincy Jones, Clark Terry, Thelonious Monk, Benny Carter, John Coates Jr. and others during his distinguished career. Upon receiving the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award in ...

Event

Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend Debuts Phil Woods Compositions

Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend Debuts Phil Woods Compositions

Source: Ed Bride Associates

Four-day Festival Featured Phil Woods, Freddie Bryant, Greg Caputo and Dozens of Local Musicians and Associated Events. By Ed Bride How do you give wobbly knees to 300 strong? Aside from using a metaphor, you put a legendary alto saxophonist in front of a kickass big band and let them wail. At least, that’s the evidence provided at last Saturday’s (July 28) headline event of the second annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend. The participants: 4-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz ...

1

Festival

Berkshire Gateway To Feature Phil Woods, Freddie Bryant, Greg Caputo Big Band

Berkshire Gateway To Feature Phil Woods, Freddie Bryant, Greg Caputo Big Band

Source: Ed Bride Associates

Berkshires Jazz, Inc. today announced the second annual Berkshire Gateway Jazz Weekend, bringing marquee performers and local jazz musicians to downtown Lee, Massachusetts, July 25-28. In collaboration with Berkshire Gateway Preservation, Inc., Berkshires Jazz presents the {Greg Caputo Big Band, Phil Woods, and the Freddie Bryant Quartet in the striking performance space at First Congregational Church, 25 Park Place, and other venues. In addition to the headline performances on July 26 and 27, the weekend will include “jazz about town,” ...

1

Recording

Phil Woods: "Right to Swing"

Phil Woods: "Right to Swing"

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Phil Woods is a band guy deep down. Though he has recorded hundreds of small-group albums, Phil always sounds most at home standing out in a crowd. Interestingly, his first commercial recording was with Neal Hefti and His Orchestra (Hot 'N Hearty in 1955), and some of his most memorable recordings have been as the soulful soloist on recordings by superb orchestras: Larry Sonn's The Sound of Sonn (1955), Dizzy Gillespie's World Statesman (1956), Manny Albam's Jazz Greats of Our ...

Christopher Burnett
saxophone, alto
Ken Stout
saxophone
Ed Palermo
saxophone
Grace Kelly
saxophone
Alan Gaumer
trumpet
Fred Haas
saxophone
Mirko Fait
saxophone, tenor
Charlie Jennison
saxophone, alto
Frido ter Beek
saxophone
F. ter Beek
saxophone
Jeremy Shoham
saxophone
Marek Buble
saxophone, alto
Glen Manby
saxophone, alto
Alex Clarke
saxophone
Len Pierro
saxophone
Aaron Johnson
saxophone, alto
Dave Coules
saxophone
Olivia Hughart
saxophone, alto
Chuck Currie
woodwinds

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Songs One

Philology Jazz Records
2015

buy

New Celebration

Chiaroscuro Records
2014

buy

Right To Swing

Jazzed Media
2013

buy

New Celebration

Chiaroscuro Records
2013

buy

Phil & Bill, Woods &...

Palmetto Records
2012

buy

Anthology

Acta
2011

buy

Blues For Lopes

From: Phil & Bill
By Phil Woods

Videos

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