You’ll Be Hearing More of Saxman Woodard

Those who hear saxophonist Rickey Woodard tear it up on tenor are left with a puzzling question: Why isn’t the guy a household name in jazz? Shouldn’t someone of his caliber and maturity be garnering the kind of attention paid to such younger lions as Joshua Redman and James Carter?

But talk to the 40-year-old, Nashville-born Woodard and you’ll find he isn’t disappointed with his still modest but growing reputation. “I am what I am musically and I’m happy with where I am in the music. I’m playing the horn, traveling to Europe a couple times each year, I go to Japan, I’m making records. People are getting exposed to my music.”

Nor does the Studio City-based Woodard see his West Coast location as a hurdle to getting the word out. “I had a choice to move here or to New York [in the early ‘80s]. And I had just joined the Ray Charles Orchestra and they had their office out here. So I decided to come on out and make it happen here.”

Woodard plays with an honest, often physical style that always seems to touch one emotion or another. His latest release, “The Silver Strut” (Concord), is a hearty, nine-tune collection of originals from him and his sidemen--pianist Cedar Walton, bassist John Clayton, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, drummer Jeff Hamilton--that also includes remakes of “Stardust,” “Lover Man” and the late saxophonist Hank Mobley’s “Take Your Pick.”

Like-thinking sidemen are important to Woodard. “I selected these guys because they all work from the same idiom, they all play with the same flavor. Sometimes you’ll hear bands with great guys but who somehow just don’t relate to each other. Someone will take the music somewhere and then the next guy will go somewhere else. When you play with somebody you have to connect. We’re trying to tell a story here.”

The saxophonist’s trademark blend of earthiness and sophistication comes from a variety of influences. Woodard counts such soul-baring saxophonists as Mobley, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, David “Fathead” Newman, Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins among those who shaped his sound.

“My dad played saxophone and had a huge record collection,” says Woodard, “and part of his training for me around the time I was 12, 13 and 14 was to come in on Saturday and just spend an hour listening to music. That’s where I first heard these great players.”

Another clue to Woodard’s smart yet soulful ways can be found in his performing experience. He’s toured with bluesy organist Jimmy Smith, jazz-funk pianist-composer Horace Silver and is a longtime member of Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham’s Sweet Baby Blues Band. He also spent a good part of the ‘80s traveling with the Ray Charles Orchestra.

It’s the Silver connection that’s most apparent on the latest recording. Woodard’s title tune, a festive, funk-march in the Silver tradition, springs from a story the pianist told Woodard while the two were out on tour.

“We were playing somewhere down in North Carolina and Horace was in the dressing room telling me about a time when he was a kid and had gone to church. The spirit had moved these women to start dancing in the aisles and he was demonstrating their dance, strutting around the room. He really had me laughing.”

Brashear, Clayton and Hamilton will join Woodard Tuesday at the Jazz Bakery, (310) 271-9039, to play from the album, along with pianist Bill Cunliffe and trombonist George Bohanon. The saxophonist also appears with Ray Brown and others this weekend at the West Coast Jazz Party, (714) 724-3602, and Sept. 6-7 with pianist Cedar Walton at the Bristol Court Hotel in San Diego, (619) 560-4423).

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Watts Tower Festival: Pianist Horace Tapscott’s 16-piece Arkestra and saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s quartet, both making repeat performances, will headline an unusually strong lineup at the Watts Tower Jazz Festival, to be held at the Simon Rodia Watts Towers on Sept. 29. Also on tap for the festival’s 15th year are trumpeter/film composer Mark Isham’s band, pianist Buddy Montgomery and trombonist George Bohanon’s five-slide band Bone Soir, among others. Information: (213) 847-4646.

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Remembering Ella: “Ella by Daylight: In a Mellowtone,” hosted by Manhattan Transfer vocalist Janis Siegel, will be broadcast Labor Day at 9 a.m. on KCRW-FM (89.9). The three-hour tribute to the great Ella Fitzgerald, who died in June at the age of 78, will include live, in-studio performances from Siegel and pianist Fred Hersh as well as recorded performances from Jon Hendricks and others. Fitzgerald herself will be heard discussing her career in never-before-aired interviews with the late jazz critic Leonard Feather.

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On the Turntable: Here are three standout albums recently released by Los Angeles-based musicians:

*** Ronald Muldrow, “Facing Wes,” Kokopelli.

Chicago-born guitarist Muldrow, who can be heard playing the early set most weekend evenings at 5th St. Dick’s, is unabashed in his admiration for the late Wes Montgomery, playing in Montgomery’s finest, “bumpin’ ” style. He’s put a personal stamp on this tribute with fine original tunes and a nicely orchestrated group that includes pianist James Williams, vibist Steve Nelson, drummer Yoron Israel, bassist Peter Washington and percussionist Kendrick Gueno. “Facing Wes” is a cool, confident statement that embraces the Montgomery legacy proudly. (Available in most stores.)

** 1/2 Bobby Rodriguez, “Play Duke Ellington,” Latin Jazz Productions.

Trumpeter-arranger Rodriguez refashions some of Ellington’s best-known material into salsa, merengue, cha-cha and bolero forms, keeping the originals’ melodic attractions while adding enticing rhythmic support with as many as five percussionists. Rodriguez’s solos, replete with glistening high-end passages and slippery lyricism, give each tune a personal stamp. (Available from Latin Jazz Productions, P.O. Box 3201, South Pasadena, CA 91031-6201; FAX: [213] 224-2949.)

** 1/2 Paul Carman & ESP, “Even Picasso Couldn’t Find Her,” 9 Winds.

Avant-garde thinking and straight-ahead sensibility coexist in this involved program of originals from Carman and keyboardist Mark Massey (plus Thelonious Monk’s “Ugly Beauty”). Carman’s own tenor and alto play is equally hard to categorize, but undeniably attractive. The perfect album for those tired of the same old thing. (Available from 9 Winds, P.O. Box 10082, Beverly Hills, CA 90213.)

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good), four stars (excellent).