Chatting WIth Phil Woods

Several weeks ago I posted a tribute to the great Phil Woods on his birthday. In the weeks since that posting I discovered the transcript of a phone conversation Phil and I had to promote a local appearance by his band. This week I'm sharing that conversation.

In the hands of Phil Woods the alto saxophone is no mere musical instrument. As with any creative artist, for Woods his instrument is but a tool that he employs in the service of his art.

Woods has resided in Pennsylvania’s Pocono mountain region for some three decades, just about as long as his quintet has been together.

Audience members familiar with the saxophonist know that any performance will include neither radical avant-garde playing nor self-indulgent introspective playing. Instead the room will be filled with the spirit of Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington to name a few.

With his longevity in the music industry one would expect to find multiple bins of recordings by Woods at their favorite music retailer. As the saxophonist’s die-hard fans will attest, such is not the case.

During a phone conversation Woods described his recording history as “spotty” saying, “I was with Blue Note for a minute, but they dropped me like a hot potato. I did one record for them with Johnny Griffin and Cedar Walton, but of course the accountants are running the business now, as we all know. “

“What sticks in your craw is they keep telling you that you don’ sell but they keep reissuing your (old) stuff without renegotiating or even sending you a complementary copy.”

“I’ve kinda given up on the majors, and I’m going to concentrate on recording for small independent labels with modest budgets. I started off with the small independents and I think that’s where probably I’m going to end up, I just want to make music at this point in my life.”

Ever the globetrotter, Woods casts a quizzical eye on the importance placed upon jazz and jazz education abroad and at home. “Somebody is getting mixed up. We’re not meant to compete with the Kenny G’s and the big guys. Jazz is modest salon-type music and as such it’s pretty strong.”

“Jazz is still well respected around the world, even though it is less so at home. We educated the whole world about jazz and the first thing we cut to save a buck in the schools was the music education programs. We need a Voice of America for Americans.”

As with so many other artists and fans, it was at a live performance where Woods was bitten by the jazz bug, “When I saw Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges came down front and played “Mood To Be Wooed” and then I heard Charlie Parker and that’s all she wrote. I wanted to be a musician but there were no jazz schools at the time so I went to the Manhattan School of Music for a summer course and then I transferred to Julliard where I did four years on the clarinet.”

That was from 1948 to 1952 which was a very fecund time to be in New York City. It was where the revolution was happening in all the arts from Max Bodenheim to John Cage to Charlie Parker, it was all happening. That’s when the arts were very strong.”

Woods love of his work and certainty in the rightness of his chosen path in life seems unflagging. He says, “I knew when I was fourteen years old that if you’re going to go into music or any of the arts it was not going to be easy. I get up in the morning, I look in the mirror, give myself a round of applause and get on with it.”