Posted on 09/30/2015 10:31:45 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Phil Woods, a leading alto saxophonist in mainstream jazz for more than 60 years whose piercing solos could also be heard on hit records by Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died. He was 83. […]
Woods grew up in the Swing Era where his early influences included alto saxophonists Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges. He made his name as a fiery disciple of bebop pioneer Charlie “Bird” Parker, earning the nickname “the new Bird” after Parker’s untimely death in 1955. He was married to Parker’s widow, Chan, for 17 years.
Woods released more than 50 albums as a leader and many more as a sideman with such jazz luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans and Clark Terry. He won four Grammys.
But Woods was perhaps best known outside the jazz world for his alto sax solo at the end of Joel’s 1977 hit recording “Just the Way You Are.” He also performed on recordings by Paul Simon (“Have a Good Time”) and Steely Dan (“Doctor Wu”). …
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
A real creative artist. As such he will be delegated to nobody status while sick destructive wackjobs like Ted Kennedy get weeks long paeans when they finally kick the bucket. We have one sick culture.
Sorry to hear about this. Terrific tone and ideas. I bought a few of his vinyl albums back in the day. Have listened to him recently and thought of him as well. Both Billy Joel’s tune and Steely Dan’s have played in my library over the past week. I did not know it was Woods on Dr. Wu.
Phil Woods played the solo on Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are”. Came in, blasted it out in one take.
A very, very powerful player who played with absolutely all the great names from the 40’s + 50’s.
Great player. RIP.
There’s a term called ‘Phil Woods Fingers’. It means keeping your fingers as close to the keys as possible when playing. A lot of players, myself included, have a tendency to raise our fingers away from the keys, thus slowing the response. So we all strive to have Phil Woods Fingers.
One of the best. RIP, Mr. Woods.
Same principle, economy of motion, works on any instrument. It takes a bit of time to develop the fingers to mover that way, but man, is it ever worth the time.
Wow musta made it a task to do what he loved.....Thats Passion
RIP
RIP Mr. Woods.
Great show.
Also, on Youtubeyou can find him playing on the TV show “Night Music” with NRBQ, a classic version of NRBQ’s “Little Floater”:
RIP.
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