click to enlarge

In the estimation of jazz fans and critics alike, NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods is virtually peerless at the pinnacle of modern jazz today. The winner of four Grammy awards, the alto saxophone and clarinet master is a perennial favorite in jazz surveys; in 1991 Woods topped Down Beat magazine’s 56th Annual Reader’s Poll as alto saxophonist while the Phil Woods Quintet was voted the number one Jazz Acoustic Combo by readers and cited as the top Acoustic Jazz Group in Down Beat’s 39th Annual Critic’s Poll (edging out the massively popular Wynton Marsalis groups in both cases). As San Francisco Examiner music critic Philip Elwood summed it up in a 1991 live performance review: “The music performed by Phil Woods and his colleagues is, by my standards, definitive jazz.”
The ascent to such lofty heights of acclaim, however, has come only through decades of diligence for the musician that USA Today dubbed “the hardest working man in be-bop.” Since his recording debut in 1954, Woods has appeared on hundreds of albums, with artists ranging from Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, and Carmen McRae to Bill Evans, Quincy Jones, Michel Legrand, Oliver Nelson, and Billy Joel (he played the solo on Joel’s 1977 hit “Just the Way You Are”). Last year alone, before recording the live Full House for Milestone, he could be heard on nine discs, including studio and concert dates with his Quintet and Little Big Band, in duo and trio settings, as accompanist and soloist on singer Carol Sloane’s The Real Thing, and in collaboration with his longtime alto hero, Benny Carter, on My Man Benny, My Man Phil.
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1931, Woods inherited an alto saxophone from his uncle and started taking lessons at the age of twelve. In 1948 he began his studies in New York City, first for a summer at the Manhattan School of Music and then for four years at Juilliard, where he graduated in 1952 with a major in clarinet and a minor in composition. His arrival on the New York scene began in earnest in 1954—55 when the young altoist could be heard gigging in a variety of bands, including his own groups with his alto-playing partner Gene Quill. Like all alto saxophonists of that seminal bebop era, Woods was measured against the standard set by Charlie Parker, although he names Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges as even greater influences on the horn, and acknowledges the impact of Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk as well.

 

The DVC Night Jazz Band is considered as one of the top Community College evening jazz ensembles in California.  The group has achieved a top-notch reputation by winning or placing high in the Pacific Coast Collegiate and Reno Jazz Festivals.  Since Rory Snyder was hired as Director of Jazz Studies in 1990 the  Night Band has recorded 3 CDs, the first featuring Phil Woods and the second featuring Toshiko Akiyoshi.  The latest release is DVC Jazz Live at Yoshi’s w/ Bob Mintzer. The Night Band has also appeared at Yoshi’s Jazz Club 6 times and had a very successful tour of China.  They have also taken jazz cruises and played at the CMEA State Conference.

Rory resumed a strong guest artist program with guests including Joe Henderson, Clark Terry, Bill Watrous, Michael Wolff, Bruce Forman, Bobby Hutcherson, Don Menza, John Clayton, Gordon Goodwin, Louie Bellson, Ed Shaughnessy, Grant Geissman, Bob Mintzer and more.

The DVC Jazz Studies Program is large and well rounded with over 200 students per semester in jazz classes.  Current offerings include 3 sections of Jazz History, 2 big bands, 3 combos, vocal jazz ensemble, jazz theory and improvisation, and jazz/pop solo voice. Current staff includes full time professors Rory Snyder (Director of Jazz Studies, big bands, jazz theory and improv, combo, jazz history), Glenn Appell (combo, rock history), and Bret Peppo (vocal jazz).  Adjunct professors include Joyce Pricco (jazz pop solo voice), Erik Jekabson (trumpet), Steve Sage and Mike Williams (guitar) and others that teach private lessons.

*/