Phil Woods

Phil Woods was one of the most respected jazz performers of his era and went on to epitomise the cool sax soloist, appearing on albums recorded by artists such as Steely Dan, Paul Simon and Billy Joel. He began his playing career in the 1950s after graduating from Juilliard where he studied clarinet. He quickly became known by his peers as 'New Bird' a flattering reference to Charlie 'Bird' Parker. During the 1950s he toured the world with Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie on a jazz showcase revue sponsored by an enlightened US State Department who saw jazz as a good way to promote American culture overseas. In the 1960s Woods experimented with avant-garde jazz, moving to France and establishing the European Rhythm Machine before returning to the US in 1972 where his talents became in demand by the pop industry. It was an era when sax solos featured on many popular and mainstream records and Woods' supreme command of the instrument meant he was frequently called upon when the score demanded a soaring sax solo. A measure of Woods' popularity can be gauged by the results of the annual polls in Downbeat Magazine whose readers voted the artist 'Best Alto Sax Player' on almost 30 occasions. He continued playing right up until the year of his death in 2015 at the age of 83.

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