Phil Woods


Philip Wells Woods was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.

Biography

Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. He studied music with Lennie Tristano, 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, he was known as the New Bird, a nickname also given to other alto saxophone players such as Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley.
In the 1950s, Woods began to lead his own bands. Quincy Jones invited him to accompany Dizzy Gillespie on a world tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department. A few years later he toured Europe with Jones, and in 1962 he toured Russia with Benny Goodman.
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 used a piece titled "How's Your Mama?"
Woods earned the top alto sax player award almost 30 times in Downbeat magazine's annual readers' poll. His quintet was awarded the top small combo title several times.
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 1977 "Just the Way You Are". He also played the alto sax solo on Steely Dan's "Doctor Wu" from their 1975 album Katy Lied, as well as Paul Simon's "Have a Good Time" from the 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years.
Although Woods was primarily a saxophonist, he was also a clarinet player and solos can be found scattered through his recordings. One particular example is his clarinet solo on "Misirlou" on the album Into the Woods.
Woods, along with Rick Chamberlain and Ed Joubert, founded the organization Celebration of the Arts in 1978 late one night in the bar at the Deer Head 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.
In 2005, Jazzed Media released the documentary Phil Woods: A Life in E Flat – Portrait of a Jazz Legend, directed by Rich Lerner and produced by Graham Carter.
Woods was married to Chan Parker, the common-law wife of Charlie Parker, for seventeen years and was the stepfather to Chan's daughter, Kim. On September 4, 2015, he performed a tribute to Charlie Parker with Strings at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and announced at the end of the show that he would be retiring. He died on September 29, 2015, at the age of 83.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Phil Woods among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Awards

As leader/co-leader

With Franco Ambrosetti
With Manny Albam
With Benny Bailey
With Louis Bellson and Gene Krupa
With Bob Brookmeyer
With Kenny Burrell
With Gary Burton
With Benny Carter
With Ron Carter
With the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band
With Al Cohn
With Eddie Costa
With Lou Donaldson
With Bill Evans
With Gil Evans
With Art Farmer
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Stephane Grappelli
With Kenyon Hopkins
With Milt Jackson
With Billy Joel
With Quincy Jones
With Michel Legrand
With John Lewis
With Mundell Lowe
With Bryan Lynch
With Herbie Mann
With Gary McFarland
With Nellie McKay
With Carmen McRae
With the Modern Jazz Quartet
With Thelonious Monk
  • The Thelonious Monk Orchestra at Town Hall
  • Big Band and Quartet in Concert
With Oliver Nelson
With Joe Newman
  • Salute to Satch
With Anita O'Day
  • All the Sad Young Men
With Pony Poindexter
  • Pony's Express
With Jimmy Raney
  • Jimmy Raney Quintet 10 inch LP
With Jimmy Raney or Dick Hyman
  • Early Quintets
With Lalo Schifrin
  • Samba Para Dos with Bob Brookmeyer
  • Once a Thief and Other Themes
With Shirley Scott
With Sahib Shihab
With Jimmy Smith
With Chris Swansen
  • Crazy Horse
With Billy Taylor
  • Kwamina
With Clark Terry
  • The Happy Horns of Clark Terry
  • Squeeze Me!
With George Wallington
With Kai Winding'