Rickey Woodard
b. 5 August 1950, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. After studying saxophones under Bill Green and majoring in music at Tennessee State University, Woodard worked extensively with a wide range of performers. He worked with jazz artists such as Jimmy Smith, Billy Higgins, Frank Capp and Al Grey and also backed singers from the jazz and pop worlds including Ella Fitzgerald, Ernestine Anderson, Barbara McNair and Prince. He also recorded with Capp and with the big band co-led by Jeff Clayton and Jeff Hamilton. Mostly playing tenor saxophone, he established a solid if localized reputation in the USA before venturing onto the international jazz festival circuit. By the early '90s Woodard was fast becoming a popular visitor to Europe and the UK. Playing alto and soprano saxophones in addition to tenor (he also plays clarinet, flute and guitar), Woodard is a vibrant and forceful soloist, his tenor saxophone styling hinting at an affection for the work of Wardell Grey, Dexter Gordon and, especially, Hank Mobley. For all such stylistic mentors, however, Woodard is very much his own man and this, allied to his playing skills and an engaging personality, assures him of a continuing welcome at jazz venues at home and abroad.