Search - Phil Woods :: Full House

Energetic live performance

James A. Vedda | Alexandria, VA USA | 04/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Phil Woods was 60 when this album was recorded, and it demonstrates that he still was in his prime. (Actually, I heard him perform in Washington during the week of his 75th birthday in fall 2006, and he still had the right stuff at that point too.) He's joined here by long-time colleagues Steve Gilmore on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums, as well as Jim McNeely on piano (who wrote two of the six tunes on the album) and Hal Crook on trombone (who wrote the opening track). I found Crook's solo work to be especially enjoyable, and the arrangements offer a great blend between his trombone and Phil's alto.

My favorite tracks from this live performance are Crook's "Samba de Be-Bop" and Phil's gorgeous interpretation of the Al Cohn tune "Pensive." I was less enthralled with "Hindsight" where Phil switches to clarinet. Not that there's anything wrong with his clarinet playing - after all, he majored on clarinet at Julliard. But in this reviewer's humble opinion, he is the unchallenged grand master of the alto sax, and that creates certain expectations when he picks up other instruments. In the 1970s, he did a lot of brilliant work on soprano sax, putting him in the top echelon on that instrument as well (check out his soprano playing on "Live from the Showboat" and "Floresta Canto"). However, on clarinet I prefer Eddie Daniels. Phil, I miss your soprano!

Overall, this is the kind of quality work that we've come to expect from Phil. All of the tracks made it onto my iPod."