Maps Billy Woods

Avid Jazz presents four classic Phil Woods albums, including original liner notes on Volume Three of a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Pairing Off”; “Woodlore”; “Sugan” and “Rights to Swing”.
To continue the tennis analogy taken from the original liner notes of our first serving, “Pairing Off”, we have an ace album to start the first set! Enjoy the fantastic line up as the main protaganists pair off against each other for a swinging set of volleys! Phil Woods and old doubles partner Gene Quill on tenors, Donald Byrd and Kenny Dorham on trumpets, assisted by more than capable “ball boy” Tommy Flanagan on piano, Doug Watkins on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Liner notes writer Ira Gitler was obviously a sports fan as he again uses a sports analogy on our second selection “Woodlore”…

Actress/vocalist Ilene Woods (born Jacqueline Ruth Woods in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on May 5, 1929) is best remembered as being the voice of Cinderella in the Walt Disney 1950 animated classic film in which she sang Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes and So This Is Love. Accompanied by the Harold Mooney orchestra and The Woodsmen, she also had a national hit single in January 1950 with a different recording of Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo, taking it to # 22 on Bluebird 0019 b/w So This Is Love. In doing so she came in third behind renditions by Jo Stafford & Gordon MacRae (# 13 for Capitol) and Perry Como (# 14 for RCA Victor), but finished ahead of Dinah Shore's version for Columbia (# 25). However, while the soundtrack version by Ilene is readily available on several CDs (the best being the 2005 Walt Disney Records release of the Original Soundtrack), finding that Bluebird original hit on CD is so far impossible…

During a major portion of his career, Phil Woods predominately led a quartet or quintet, so the opportunity to work with his Little Big Band gave him a special pleasure, by expanding both the brass and reeds to an octet. His third release to feature the octet includes his working quintet at the time, including trombonist Hal Crook, pianist Jim McNeely, plus his longtime rhythm section, bassist Steve Gilmore and drummer Bill Goodwin. Guests include Woods' former sideman trumpeter/flugelhornist Tom Harrell, alto and baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola, plus alto and tenor saxophonist Nelson Hill. Although the economics of touring with a band this size made it impossible to tour, the musicians dove into the difficult arrangements with plenty of gusto and end up sounding as if they had been playing them in concert for months…

Woods have been in a state of slow but steady evolution since forming in 2004, growing from their roots as a noisy and experimental lo-fi folk project into increasingly refined and ambitious, genre-bending sounds as the years went on. Perennial finds the group expanding once more, turning in some of their most ornate production while maintaining their signature earthen songwriting style. With core Woods contributors Jeremy Earl, Jarvis Taveniere, and John Andrews no longer near each other, the writing process for Perennial began with Earl creating loops of keyboard, guitar, and drum figures on his own. These loops became the foundations of the album, with Taveniere and Andrews fleshing them out and taking them in new directions.

This was one of the great touring and recording bands of the 1980s, Harrell and Woods inspiring each other and the rhythm section inquiring and swinging. Woods didn't need to change anything about his own style, but it blossoms anew in counterpoint with Harrell's lyrical fire, and each album is handsomely programmed and delivered … Flash, the final album with Harrell (who has since been replaced by Hal Crook as the front-line horn), has the edge of some outstanding composing by the trumpeter – "Weaver" and "Rado" are particularly sound vehicles – and Crook's extra tones on a few tracks.

Billy Joel was born on May 9, 1949 in the Bronx and shortly after moved to the Levittown section of Hicksville, Long Island, New York where he started playing piano at the age of 4. In 1964, inspired by the Beatles, he formed his first band "The Echoes", which became "The Lost Souls" in 1965 and then "The Emerald Lords" in 1966. In 1967 he joined "The Hassles" and recorded two albums, which were not successful…

This set features a very logical matchup. Richie Cole's main influence has long been Phil Woods, so these concert performances pitting the two altoists together have plenty of fire and extroverted improvisations. With pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Jimmy Cobb backing the soloists, Woods and Cole really push each other on "Scrapple from the Apple," "Donna Lee" and "Side by Side." Tenor-great Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis sits in on "Save Your Love for Me," the younger altoist has "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" to himself and Cole and Woods have fun on a brief free-form "Naugahyde Reality." It's a generally high-powered and enjoyable set.