Philip Wells Woods (born November 2, 1931 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.
Woods studied music with Lennie Tristano, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music and at The Juilliard School. His friend, Joe Lopes, coached him on clarinet as there was no saxophone major at Juilliard at the time. Once graduated, he quickly acquired a reputation as the pr...
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Philip Wells Woods (born November 2, 1931 in Springfield, Massachusetts) is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.
Woods studied music with Lennie Tristano, who influenced him greatly, at the Manhattan School of Music and at The Juilliard School. His friend, Joe Lopes, coached him on clarinet as there was no saxophone major at Juilliard at the time. Once graduated, he quickly acquired a reputation as the pre-eminent bop saxophonist of the day; although he did not copy Charlie "Bird" Parker, bop's greatest saxophonist, he was known as the New Bird, a label which was also attached to other alto players such as Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderley at one time or another in their careers.
After moving to France in 1968, Woods led The European Rhythm Machine, a group which tended toward avant-garde jazz. He returned to the United States in 1972 and, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish an electronic group, he formed a quintet which was still...
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