Phil Woods, 1931-2015, RIP
What is there to say? Another giant is gone. Here’s a clip and some great album covers.
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What is there to say? Another giant is gone. Here’s a clip and some great album covers.
Its hard to encapsulate the career of an artist such as Phil Woods in into words.Over the of seven decades he tirelessly searched for ways to express himself and his art through the use of his horn,never taking the given status of a man of his talent for granted he would provide the standard that other jazz artists would strive to attain,always looking for the next way to push the form of jazz forward. R.I.P. Mr. Woods and thank you.
mark: go to Marc Myers’ JazzWax of today for a very complete obituary/recap of Phil’s career.
My friend Dan also mentioned JazzWax. Here’s the link:
http://www.jazzwax.com/2015/09/phil-woods-1931-2015.html
My uncle was Phil’s lawyer for a while in the 1970s and they remained in periodic touch throughout the years. About 10 or 12 years ago, my uncle put me in touch with Phil via email, as I had a grand delusion that if I played my cards right, perhaps Phil would be interested in parting with his record collection (I know, I know. But I was young and fearless and figured what the hell could it hurt to ask!). Phil wrote back and we exchanged a couple of notes. He was super gracious and told me that I had literally missed the boat by just a couple of weeks — he had just donated his collection to the Al Cohn museum. I’ll take the high road and say that I’m glad the records went to a good home, but I can’t lie and say I wish it hadn’t been MY home!
Phil Woods is the love of my creative life. More than any literary figure, Phil influences my evolution as a writer. His courageous advocacy for jazz — the brilliant, forceful ways he speaks truth to and about the acolytes of Mammon — drowns out the squealings of the Kenny G’s.
Phil is a force of nature.
I began collecting Woods recordings while in college, and I’ve been blessed with the opportunities to procure just about every piece in the commercially released canon and a hell of a lot of bootlegs (much to his displeasure).
Some years ago we become friends via correspondence — a relationship that deteriorated due to circumstances not worthy of sharing here. I was honored to produce two Woods concerts, including an appearance at Newport Jazz ’79 (not produced by George Wein) and a two-night club date (with trombonist Hal Crook [before he joined Phil’s band] and guitarist Gray Sargent [now with Tony Bennett]) in a Providence, RI Chinese restaurant.
As it happened, Billy Joel was in town. On the gig’s first night, he sheepishly peeked into the “dressing room” to greet Phil, who responded, with a smile, “I made you, kid, and I can break you!” They embraced, then Joel faded away.
So many stories. So much music.
A dio, Phil Woods.
With McPherson, Bartz, and Davis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab8t0Mn8EHw