Home » Jazz Musicians » Rickey Woodard
Rickey Woodard
Rickey Woodard was born in Nashville where he played in a family band with his brothers and sisters, playing Blues and R’n'B around the Nashville area. At an early age, Rickey came up listening to such greats as Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker and Sonny Stitt. Rickey’s favorite saxophone players are Hank Mobley and George Coleman, two of the all-time great players.
After leaving Nashville, Rickey went to California and joined the Ray Charles Band where he was a member for eight years. After that, Rickey decided to pursue a solo career and recorded both as a leader and as a sideman for Concord Records.
Currently he performs live, frequently leading his own quartet or quintet as well as performing and recording with The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Frank Capp Juggernaut Band. Rickey also has worked in theater productions, such as Ain’t Misbehavin’ and The Color Purple at the Ahmanson Theatre at the LA Music Center. Other artists he has performed and recorded with are Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Smith, The Temptations, Nancy Wilson and many others. This soulful sax player captures audiences wherever he performs.
Rickey is also a great composer and has over 200 original compositions to his credit in addition to extensive experience in arranging. His latest recording is called Pineapple Delight and consists of all original compositions that are arranged for his Quintet.
Tags
Amber Weekes: A Lady With a Song
by Katchie Cartwright
Irving Berlin wrote “Suppertime" (aka “Supper Time") for As Thousands Cheer (1933), a topical revue with several stars and many musical numbers. Ethel Waters introduced it, making history as the first African American woman to star on Broadway. Berlin wrote it specifically for Waters, who also sang his lighthearted “Heat Wave" in the show. “Suppertime" has a more serious story, told in the voice of a woman who--while making dinner--must find a way to tell her children that ...
Continue ReadingAmber Weekes: A Lady With a Song
by Richard J Salvucci
It is difficult to know exactly what to do with a recording like this. Amber Weekes is a very good singer, and from the outset, she calls this a “celebration" of Nancy Wilson, not an imitation or a recreation. You can hear Wilson's influence throughout: her articulation, occasional staccato delivery, deep sincerity and emotional heft come through in Weekes' recording. And a good recording it is, make no mistake. Anyone who enjoyed Wilson, or any good female vocalist, will enjoy ...
Continue ReadingJack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork
by Nicholas F. Mondello
"Those who know, know" happens to be a soon-to-be-overused phrase to describe the hip, the “In," and “the very elite of aware." Now in his Mid-80s, Jack Jones has maintained a stellar, cross-media career, all on a foundation of a once-in-a-lifetime voice. Mel Torme, one not easily prone to hyperbole, called Jones, “the best pure singer in the business." Torme and others in the Vocal Pantheon knew. With ArtWork, Jones joins forces with the late multi-instrumentalist and ...
Continue ReadingJack Jones Featuring Joey DeFrancesco: ArtWork
by Jack Bowers
If a singer's reputation is so impressive that he or she is able to enlist a full orchestra (with bassist John Clayton conducting) and the late organ maestro Joey DeFrancesco as featured soloist, that is certainly enough to warrant attention. The singer in this instance is two-time Grammy winner Jack Jones, the orchestra an assemblage of some of the Los Angeles area's finest musicians, enlarged by a thirty-member string section. On one hand, Jones remains a smooth ...
Continue ReadingDoug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza
by Richard J Salvucci
Some reviewers have been known to complain that contemporary big bands can do most anything but swing. Like all generalizations, there is some merit to the observation. But, like all generalizations, the occasional exception falsifies it. Looking for a big band that pushes all the right buttons? Look no further. Doug MacDonald's “desert jazz" band is an extremely good one. While it might be difficult to make claims about the novelty of what is on offer, the band is tight, ...
Continue ReadingDoug MacDonald: Big Band Extravaganza
by Jack Bowers
Pardon the superlative, but what a terrific album! Extravanga marks the debut of guitarist Doug MacDonald's seventeen-member Jazz Orchestra, and he has guaranteed that it swings with gusto by writing nine perceptive and luminous charts that are sure to bring out the best in any ensemble, especially one as well-equipped as this. During his decades-long career as one of the West Coast's foremost guitarists, MacDonald has recorded fifteen albums with groups ranging from solo to duo, quartet to brass and ...
Continue ReadingThe Scott Whitfield Jazz Orchestra West: Postcards from Hollywood
by Jack Bowers
While many people have been excited or enraptured by the music scores accompanying Hollywood's most beloved films, few know (or perhaps even care) who wrote them. That's a shame, as these composers (and their contemporaries) were musical trailblazers whose names should be enshrined forever in the annals of artistic brilliance. One who does care is composer/arranger Scott Whitfield who has dedicated the latest album by his Jazz Orchestra West, Postcards from Hollywood, to their remarkable (and too-often overlooked) legacy.
Continue ReadingJazz This Week: Rickey Woodard, Craig Russo Latin Jazz Project, Trio Tres Bien, Chamber Project St. Louis, and More
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
It's shaping up to be a fine weekend in St. Louis to get out and hear some live sounds, and fortunately, our local presenters of jazz and creative music would seem to have a variety of potentially worthy attractions in the offing. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight through Saturday, Cabaret St. Louis continues its season at the Kranzberg Arts Center with “A Salute to the Rat Pack" from the group Three Men and A Baby...Grand, aka singers Brian Lane ...
read more
Jazz This Week: Pat Metheny, Jazz St. Louis All-Stars, Denise Thimes with Rickey Woodard, and More
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Though fall-to-spring academic and not-for-profit presenting schedules are winding down, and summer won't be here for a few weeks yet, there are still some noteworthy shows coming up over the next few days in St. Louis for fans of jazz and creative music.The big news of the week is guitarist Pat Metheny's Orchestrion tour, which finally reaches St. Louis on Saturday night at the Touhill Performing Arts Center. If you're a regular reader, you know that ...
read more
Photos
Music
Videos
Similar
Scott Hamilton
saxophone, tenor
Maynard Ferguson
trumpet
Sonny Stitt
saxophone
Art Tatum
piano
Gene Harris
piano
Benny Golson
saxophone, tenor
Ben Webster
saxophone, tenor
Houston Person
saxophone, tenor
Hank Mobley
saxophone, tenor
Benny Carter
saxophone, alto
Gary Burton
vibraphone
Bob Mintzer
saxophone
Ken Peplowski
woodwinds
Bud Shank
saxophone
Alan Broadbent
piano
Jack McDuff
organ, Hammond B3
Rickey Woodard
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: August 5, 1950
