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Lyman Woodard Trio: "Live" at the Montreaux-Detroit Jazz Festival |
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Tuesday, 24 January 2006 01:59 |
The Lyman Woodard Trio
Live at the Montreaux-Detroit Jazz Festival
Corridor Records
By John Sinclair
Lyman Woodard and his Hammond B-3 organ have been Motor City musical favorites since 1964, when the Owosso native moved to Detroit after completing a two-year residency with saxophonist Benny Poole in Jackson, Michigan--the heart of the organ-tenor belt of the Midwest--and established himself through a long stint with the Don Davis Trio at the old Frolic Lounge.
Lyman was also active in the Detroit Artists Workshop and hosted a popular after-hours set at the Wisdom Tooth coffeehouse on Plum Street. When Don Davis put down his guitar to devote himself full-time to record production, the first edition of the Lyman Woodard Trio was organized to play an extended engagement at the Hobby Bar on Linwood.
Woodard worked and recorded in the pop music field with guitarist Dennis Coffey, the Holland-Dozier-Holland group 8th Day, singer Martha Reeves and others, then formed the Lyman Woodard Organization and moved into JJ's Lounge in the lobby of the late lamented Shelby Hotel in downtown Detroit for a six-night-a-week stand which established the LWO as a consistent attraction for years to come.
Showcasing drummer/vocalist Leonard King and a succession of stellar soloists including guitarists Ron English and Leroy Barnes, saxophonists Norma Jean Bell, Kenny Garrett, Allen Barnes and Kerry Campbell, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and percussionist Lorenzo Mr. Rhythm Brown, the Lyman Woodard Organization ruled Detroit throughout the 1970s and well into the 80s, wowing capacity crowds in the city's most popular nightclubs and enjoying regular airplay of their three LPs--Saturday Night Special (Strata Records), Don t Stop the Groove and Dedicacion (Corridor Records).
Then the times changed and popular taste shifted away from the intelligently, elegantly funky sounds of the Organization, leaving Woodard without enough steady work to keep the band together. The keyboard wizard was soon recruited by the Sun Messengers and spent several years playing, recording, composing and arranging for the well-known Detroit dance band.
But by the beginning of the 1990s Woodard found himself missing the freedom and expressive possibilities of his own outfit. A fortunate change in his personal circumstances provided Lyman the opportunity to bring back together several of his favorite cohorts for a series of well-received reunion concerts that culminated in the group's appearance at the 1996 Montreaux-Detroit Jazz Festival, the performance documented on this recording.
Woodard is featured on the Hammond B-3 throughout this program of time-tested crowd favorites, including Lyman's own Disco Tease and fresh, swinging arrangements of the pop chestnuts If I Were z Bell, The Breeze and I, and Leroy Anderson's lovely Serenata.
Bob Tye sparkles on guitar with imagination and unfailing taste, and Leonard King's mellow vocals are heard on When Did You Leave Heaven and You Don t Know What Love Is.
Woodard's fascination with popular culture is evidenced in the Theme from Perry Mason, and the band takes everybody straight to church with their spirited treatment of the Sam Cooke rocker, Ain t That Good News.
The Lyman Woodard Trio live at Montreaux-Detroit sounds just as fine and soulful as ever--a tasty treat from the city's historical past to remind us how good the music was and how much we thrilled to hear it every chance we got.
This disc now presents a happy opportunity to keep the music with us in our homes and in our lives, where it will resonate and delight us for many years to come.
--New Orleans
June 30, 1997
(c) 1997, 2006 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
3.1.6114 |
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