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Life in E Flat – The Autobiography of Phil Woods
2021 Book of the Year Finalist - Jazz Journalists Association Phil Woods was an American original. One of the greatest saxophonists of all time, he was the first call for Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Oliver Nelson. His iconic improvisation on Billy Joel’s hit song "Just the Way You Are" is quite likely the most played instrumental solo in the world. His popularity soared while an expat in Europe during the cultural revolution of the late sixties and early seventies. Upon his return to the States, Woods formed a band that would perform together for four decades. Grammy Awards, dozens of DownBeat Readers Poll victories, and designation as a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master would follow. Life in E Flat is the unvarnished self-portrait of an artist who loved and lived a life of bebop. "Phil Woods lived all the tropes of the 20th century American defiant modernist, reverent traditionalist, mid-century family man, countercultural nonconformist, homebody, expatriate and road rat; young Turk and grand master. He possessed an abundance of gifts along with the determination to put the hard work in to realize every facet of them, and the great good fortune to grow up blessed by the mentorship of the most distinguished exponents of a golden age of Black American Music. His story tracks the changes of “this old world” through over three quarters of a century of music and life, informing us of what has been gained and lost, reminding us of what happened and what still needs to be done." – Brian Lynch, Grammy Award-winning trumpeter, composer, and educator "I would have to give Phil Woods’ sax solo on Just The Way You Are credit for making that a hit record." – Billy Joel "Mr. Phil Woods left an indelible impression on me as a composer, arranger, and instrumentalist. A sincere active transmitter on the stage!" – Eddie Palmieri, ten time Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master "I never worked with a better musician at the same time so unpretentious about the depth, breadth, and total scope of his knowledge and his playing. You hear his unmistakable voice in both his alto saxophone and every note of his very much underrated writing. Phil Woods was a supreme singer and swinger of the music he loved and served so passionately. Equally jazz and man…" – Todd Barkan, Keystone Korner Baltimore and NEA Jazz Master "Phil Woods was a wonderful alto player, a great musician that was at home in any musical situation. His autobiography is a must-read for all jazz fans and musician alike." – Charles McPherson, saxophonist and composer "Phil was in a class of his own….musically of course. But he also had an ear for language… caustic at times, but always honest and heartfelt… truly one of a kind!" – Dave Liebman, NEA Jazz Master
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2020
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April 26, 2021
Bird needed a sax one night to perform and Phil rushed to grab Bird his personal Balanced Action Alto and hands it to Bird for his set. “At the time, I was going through your basic saxophonist’s life crisis, I did not like the mouthpiece, or the horn, or the reeds and was continually experimenting with various setups. When I listened to Bird playing my horn, I realized there was nothing wrong with my saxophone, nothing wrong with my mouthpiece, nothing wrong with my reeds. It sounded just fine. If there was a problem, it had to be me.” Phil goes back to work that night and “played the bejesus out of Harlem Nocturne.” When, as a musician you get too obsessed that your sound requires new gear, this story will work great, as does Tom Morello’s (and many African musicians’) liberating decision to “make what you have do”.
Best Dizzy story: Quincy Jones sets up a tour of Europe, the musicians land in Abadan, Iran and are soon smoking hash which one of the musicians had just scored. Dizzy walks up starting to speak and they all scatter, leaving Phil alone holding the pipe. “Where the hell did you get that? What are you doing? Don’t you realize this is a State Department tour? You could be jeopardizing my position and every man jack here! Any unpleasant incident would have international implications and could seriously impair and normalization process with the Arab states. In point of fact, you could be personally responsible for the end of detente and peace in our time!” Then he asked, “Is the shit any good?” Phil: “Yeah, Birks, I’m no expert but it’s the best hash I’ve ever tasted.” Dizzy: “Then give me some! – before I fire your white ass!”
That Quincy tour takes in the Brazil (listen to Dizzy in South America 3 CDs) where instead of sightseeing, Quincy and Benny Golson prefer to meet Villas Lobos. In their meeting, Villa-Lobos spoke of his admiration for improvisation. Phil gives a Brazilian some sax reeds (because they were VERY hard to get there) and in return gets “an ounce of killer weed”. Astor Piazzola said that Dizzy/Quincy tour was huge for him. Seeing his first big bebop band up close gave him the strength to challenge the aged Tango establishment with his Nuevo Tango. At first his music was criticized deeply and condemned. Lalo Schifrin meets Dizzy on this tour and is taken in by everybody and brought back to the US. At the time, Lalo was the leader of Argentina’s largest bebop band. Flying back, Dizzy slept in a cramped middle seat no one wanted, what a nice guy.
On one flight, Phil’s plane hits an air pocket that makes the plane suddenly drop 10,000 feet that made many of the musicians want to take a boat home. I once hit an air pocket over Laos that sent some of us onto the ceiling; To this day, I loathe to fly lest that ever happen again, so I sympathize. Phil lives for a few years married to Bird’s widow in New Hope, PA where I grew up.
Art Blakey and Dizzy led Phil to his decision to go solo. Phil told Art and Dizzy he was worried that, jazz being a Black invention ,he didn’t want to be accused of stealing it (Mingus had been pissed that Phil stole Bird’s music, his wife and family as well). Dizzy told Phil, “Bird gave the world his music and that includes you. Besides you can’t steal a gift – if you can hear it, you can have it.” Phil was dumbfounded: “Can you imagine these two Black geniuses of American music taking the time from their busy lives to straighten out my poor white ass?”
At any given time, Phil had 100 songs in his working book. Phil played Ronnie Scott’s for a week once without once repeating a tune. “My band sight reads on concerts better than most bands would sound when they rehearse for a week. These guys don’t need to look at a Real Book. They know every song I know.”. Phil used to frequent museums, pour over scores of Stravinsky, other moderns, as well as study the Brahms Clarinet Sonata. Phil arranged: “I voiced the Novachord which was attached to the piano and sounded very much like an accordion – with three clarinets.” Phil finds out Bird digs Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and quickly listens to a copy and introduced to twelve-tone music. Phil becomes a self-proclaimed “bebop junkie” which he remains. However, as Phil aged, he brought forth more of his Hodges and Benny Carter influence, long overshadowed by Bird.
Phil was really close to Joe Morello in his early years. Phil asked “What’s that?” when reefer was passed around and the answer was, “Oh, it makes you feel like playing.” Phil said, “OK, give me some.” Phil becomes a pothead and an autodidact reading tons of classic authors, but he never took a shine to Ezra Pound and James Joyce. Not surprising, since Pound was a fascist and a vituperative anti-Semite who loved Hitler and Mussolini, but Joyce had good politics. Phil would sell joints and ounces for income. Phil studied with Lennie Tristano. He would buy the latest bebop records and then go home and transcribe the heads into Bb, Eb and Concert to put in three books for three keys to sneak in on gigs. Any left-over money went to gain entrance to jazz sets around town. Phil would play “Harlem Nocturne” and “Night Train” for strippers and “Saber Dance” for sword swallowers.
“Gene (Quill) was the first lead alto to minimize the use of vibrato, hitting the note sans scoop and only adding vibrato towards the end of the note. Like Prez. Like Louis. Like Bird.” On one of Phil’s assignments, he “blew” behind Billie Holiday and kept her company at the bar. Phil loved Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less recordings with Chet Baker – they showed jazzers the guidetone principle in action, and the alternating of thirds and sevenths. Phil loved Cannonball Adderley, Charles Ives and Bartok. “Do you know why no one sounds like Lee Konitz? Because it’s too damned hard; cop some of his stuff if you can.” “I always loved Chet Baker’s work he was one of the finest melodists to ever blow a horn.” “I never play a song unless I can play it on the piano. That’s where all the answers are; it’s not on a monophonic instrument, but on a polyphonic one like the piano, where you can visualize the whole scheme.” Did you know that both Ben Webster and Stephane Grappelli began their music careers playing piano for the silent films before switching instruments? A huge number of famous US jazz cats went to Europe to get away from structural US racism – the list is very long but rarely discussed. “Conk” = Sulphur-based balm to straighten black hair.
“I have always favored the sound of alto sax paired with trumpet since I first heard Dizzy with Bird.” Ever hip after Flower power hits, Phil adds an Oberheim ring modulator and a wah-wah pedal to his sound. He goes from a Selmer mark VI to a Yamaha 82Z alto. This book reminds me how much I loved Phil’s record “Images” with Michel LeGrand. Don’t overlook trumpeter Tom Harrell, he is respected by the big names – even Dizzy and Chet loved his trumpet playing. Phil said, “By now, our book contains about 500 songs, perhaps 100 of them active at any given time.” Phil described himself openly as “an addict and an alcoholic.”
In College, I bought one of my favorite jazz records of all time, “A Generation Ago” by Kenny Burrell. Through continually playing that one LP, Kenny quickly became my favorite jazz guitarist for tone and taste, and Phil became my choice for most melodic alto sax player. So, it was great fun to read this book and learn more about Phil. I love that Phil was also well-read and super-hip to the racism obstacles to be faced by jazz artists of color. For those who love Phil Woods, try listening to west coast altoist Bud Shank as well; his version of Windmills of Your Mind is utterly swinging and gorgeous – better than even Phil’s version. Phil’s most famous recording (Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are) is actually a combined edit of six solos and Phil Ramone edited them together with razor blade splices. Cool Jeopardy fact: Phil Ramone was the sound engineer for Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to JFK at MSG. Cheers.
Best Dizzy story: Quincy Jones sets up a tour of Europe, the musicians land in Abadan, Iran and are soon smoking hash which one of the musicians had just scored. Dizzy walks up starting to speak and they all scatter, leaving Phil alone holding the pipe. “Where the hell did you get that? What are you doing? Don’t you realize this is a State Department tour? You could be jeopardizing my position and every man jack here! Any unpleasant incident would have international implications and could seriously impair and normalization process with the Arab states. In point of fact, you could be personally responsible for the end of detente and peace in our time!” Then he asked, “Is the shit any good?” Phil: “Yeah, Birks, I’m no expert but it’s the best hash I’ve ever tasted.” Dizzy: “Then give me some! – before I fire your white ass!”
That Quincy tour takes in the Brazil (listen to Dizzy in South America 3 CDs) where instead of sightseeing, Quincy and Benny Golson prefer to meet Villas Lobos. In their meeting, Villa-Lobos spoke of his admiration for improvisation. Phil gives a Brazilian some sax reeds (because they were VERY hard to get there) and in return gets “an ounce of killer weed”. Astor Piazzola said that Dizzy/Quincy tour was huge for him. Seeing his first big bebop band up close gave him the strength to challenge the aged Tango establishment with his Nuevo Tango. At first his music was criticized deeply and condemned. Lalo Schifrin meets Dizzy on this tour and is taken in by everybody and brought back to the US. At the time, Lalo was the leader of Argentina’s largest bebop band. Flying back, Dizzy slept in a cramped middle seat no one wanted, what a nice guy.
On one flight, Phil’s plane hits an air pocket that makes the plane suddenly drop 10,000 feet that made many of the musicians want to take a boat home. I once hit an air pocket over Laos that sent some of us onto the ceiling; To this day, I loathe to fly lest that ever happen again, so I sympathize. Phil lives for a few years married to Bird’s widow in New Hope, PA where I grew up.
Art Blakey and Dizzy led Phil to his decision to go solo. Phil told Art and Dizzy he was worried that, jazz being a Black invention ,he didn’t want to be accused of stealing it (Mingus had been pissed that Phil stole Bird’s music, his wife and family as well). Dizzy told Phil, “Bird gave the world his music and that includes you. Besides you can’t steal a gift – if you can hear it, you can have it.” Phil was dumbfounded: “Can you imagine these two Black geniuses of American music taking the time from their busy lives to straighten out my poor white ass?”
At any given time, Phil had 100 songs in his working book. Phil played Ronnie Scott’s for a week once without once repeating a tune. “My band sight reads on concerts better than most bands would sound when they rehearse for a week. These guys don’t need to look at a Real Book. They know every song I know.”. Phil used to frequent museums, pour over scores of Stravinsky, other moderns, as well as study the Brahms Clarinet Sonata. Phil arranged: “I voiced the Novachord which was attached to the piano and sounded very much like an accordion – with three clarinets.” Phil finds out Bird digs Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and quickly listens to a copy and introduced to twelve-tone music. Phil becomes a self-proclaimed “bebop junkie” which he remains. However, as Phil aged, he brought forth more of his Hodges and Benny Carter influence, long overshadowed by Bird.
Phil was really close to Joe Morello in his early years. Phil asked “What’s that?” when reefer was passed around and the answer was, “Oh, it makes you feel like playing.” Phil said, “OK, give me some.” Phil becomes a pothead and an autodidact reading tons of classic authors, but he never took a shine to Ezra Pound and James Joyce. Not surprising, since Pound was a fascist and a vituperative anti-Semite who loved Hitler and Mussolini, but Joyce had good politics. Phil would sell joints and ounces for income. Phil studied with Lennie Tristano. He would buy the latest bebop records and then go home and transcribe the heads into Bb, Eb and Concert to put in three books for three keys to sneak in on gigs. Any left-over money went to gain entrance to jazz sets around town. Phil would play “Harlem Nocturne” and “Night Train” for strippers and “Saber Dance” for sword swallowers.
“Gene (Quill) was the first lead alto to minimize the use of vibrato, hitting the note sans scoop and only adding vibrato towards the end of the note. Like Prez. Like Louis. Like Bird.” On one of Phil’s assignments, he “blew” behind Billie Holiday and kept her company at the bar. Phil loved Gerry Mulligan’s piano-less recordings with Chet Baker – they showed jazzers the guidetone principle in action, and the alternating of thirds and sevenths. Phil loved Cannonball Adderley, Charles Ives and Bartok. “Do you know why no one sounds like Lee Konitz? Because it’s too damned hard; cop some of his stuff if you can.” “I always loved Chet Baker’s work he was one of the finest melodists to ever blow a horn.” “I never play a song unless I can play it on the piano. That’s where all the answers are; it’s not on a monophonic instrument, but on a polyphonic one like the piano, where you can visualize the whole scheme.” Did you know that both Ben Webster and Stephane Grappelli began their music careers playing piano for the silent films before switching instruments? A huge number of famous US jazz cats went to Europe to get away from structural US racism – the list is very long but rarely discussed. “Conk” = Sulphur-based balm to straighten black hair.
“I have always favored the sound of alto sax paired with trumpet since I first heard Dizzy with Bird.” Ever hip after Flower power hits, Phil adds an Oberheim ring modulator and a wah-wah pedal to his sound. He goes from a Selmer mark VI to a Yamaha 82Z alto. This book reminds me how much I loved Phil’s record “Images” with Michel LeGrand. Don’t overlook trumpeter Tom Harrell, he is respected by the big names – even Dizzy and Chet loved his trumpet playing. Phil said, “By now, our book contains about 500 songs, perhaps 100 of them active at any given time.” Phil described himself openly as “an addict and an alcoholic.”
In College, I bought one of my favorite jazz records of all time, “A Generation Ago” by Kenny Burrell. Through continually playing that one LP, Kenny quickly became my favorite jazz guitarist for tone and taste, and Phil became my choice for most melodic alto sax player. So, it was great fun to read this book and learn more about Phil. I love that Phil was also well-read and super-hip to the racism obstacles to be faced by jazz artists of color. For those who love Phil Woods, try listening to west coast altoist Bud Shank as well; his version of Windmills of Your Mind is utterly swinging and gorgeous – better than even Phil’s version. Phil’s most famous recording (Billy Joel’s Just the Way You Are) is actually a combined edit of six solos and Phil Ramone edited them together with razor blade splices. Cool Jeopardy fact: Phil Ramone was the sound engineer for Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to JFK at MSG. Cheers.
April 8, 2021
Excellent autobiography of this master! It’s not exactly chronological, actually it jumps around a bit here and there, but that’s part of what keeps you engaged - as if Phil were telling you the story in person!
December 19, 2022
Alternately hilarious, frightening, heart-warming, and angry. A full, unabridged understanding of a jazz master. I've always loved Phil Woods' music. This book makes me appreciate his trials and life successes even more.
June 2, 2021
It’s a rough collection of stories from throughout his life. Some better written than others.
Much prefer Chan Parker’s autobiography of the similar title: My life in E flat.
Much prefer Chan Parker’s autobiography of the similar title: My life in E flat.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews