Places of Light

2009-01-29T09:56:00.002-05:00

Doc Woods Receives 2009 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Outstanding Community Service Award from Mohawk Valley Club of Utica, New York

From UticaOD.com - Tuesday Conversation with Mike Woods - Blacks Aren't Treated Equally in Athletics

2008-11-03T15:31:00.001-05:00

Read the Article at http://www.uticaod.com/sports/x1197761966/African-Americans-aren-t-treated-equally-in-athletics.

Doc Woods New ASCAPLUS Award

2008-10-06T14:47:00.002-05:00

"Doctuh" Michael Woods has been given an ASCAPLUS Award.

Doc Woods and The Wonderful Wizard of Was

2008-08-20T14:32:00.004-05:00

"Doctuh" Michael Woods has scored and will be conducting performances of The Wonderful Wizard of Was on August 22 and 23 at 8 PM and August 24 at 2 PM on the Stanley Performing Arts Center World Stage in Utica, New York. More about the show at http://forthegoodinc.org/.

See a New Video Interview with Doc Woods at UticaOD.com

2008-05-02T09:58:00.001-05:00

There's a wonderful new video interview with "Doctuh" Michael Woods at UticaOD.com. Watch it at http://www.uticaod.com/archive/x1382803297.

Doc Woods as Teacher and Mentor

2007-05-11T09:07:00.000-05:00

Read about Doctuh Michael Woods' work as a special teacher and mentor to young saxophonist Morgan McMillon at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/may07/MW_050907.htm.

Two New Articles by Doc Woods

2007-02-20T08:24:00.000-05:00

Read Doc Woods' New Articles About Black History Month (http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/feb07/woods_history.pdf) and the late James Brown (http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/feb07/woods_brown.jpg ) .

New The Whole Truth Article About Michael Woods

2007-01-31T14:45:00.000-05:00

The Church of God in Christ magazine The Whole Truth has published a wonderful article about "Doctuh" Michael Woods. Read it online at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/jan07/woods_truth.pdf.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Humanity and the Importance of Jazz

2006-12-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

"God has brought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create - and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.

Modern Jazz has continued in this tradition, singing the songs of a more complicated urban existence. When life itself offers no order and meaning, the musician creates an order and meaning from the sounds of the earth which flow through his instrument.

It is no wonder that so much of the search for identity among American Negroes was championed by Jazz musicians. Long before the modern essayists and scholars wrote of "racial identity" as a problem for a multi-racial world, musicians were returning to their roots to affirm that which was stirring within their souls.

Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down. And now, Jazz is exported to the world. For in the particular struggle of the Negro in America there is something akin to the universal struggle of modern man. Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody longs for faith. In music, especially this broad category called Jazz, there is a stepping stone towards all of these."

The Art of the Quintet, Featuring Original Music By Doc Woods

2006-10-11T10:13:00.000-05:00

The Hamilton College Department of Music presented “The Art of the Quintet” featuring music by “Doctuh” Michael Woods on Tuesday, September 12 at Wellin Hall in the Schambach Center for Music and the Performing Arts on the Hamilton campus in Clinton, New York.

Bassist “Doctuh” Michael Woods was joined by trumpeter Jeff Stockham, saxophonist Bob Cesari, pianist Tom Witkowski and drummer Rick Compton for a program of his original compositions for jazz quintet, including She Don't Do Right, The Waltz On Inn, Askin' Price, Some Lonely Tuesday, Jumpin' At Woods' Hide and The Circumstances.

Photos from the concert can be seen at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/oct06/DW_101606.htm.

Associate Professor of Music “Doctuh” Michael Woods is the Director of Jazz Studies at Hamilton College. Born in Akron, Ohio in 1952, he grew up listening to Black gospel music and rhythm and blues. Woods studied music formally at Akron University where he finished with a B.M. degree in composition. He went on to obtain two masters degrees from the Indiana University. Woods received his doctorate degree in music composition at University of Oklahoma in 1991. Woods also studied jazz arranging and film scoring at Berklee College of Music in Boston and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Arts Administration. As a composer, Woods was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has written over 500 pieces in all styles. His compositions have been performed by the Albany Symphony, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Little Rock Symphony, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Lafayette Symphony (Indiana), the Pro Musica Orchestra (Columbus, Indiana), the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, and the Salt City Jazz Collective.

You can read more about Michael Woods and the recent Albany Symphony Orchestra premiere of his Places of Light in Music & Vision Daily’s feature Three Questions Before the First Night by Carson Cooman at http://www.mvdaily.com/.

He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts Consulting, who can be contacted at 516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net.

New Profile of Doc Woods

2006-09-22T11:26:00.000-05:00

The Hamilton College Spectator newspaper has published "A Man Supreme", a wonderful new profile of Doc Woods.

Read it at http://www.jamesarts.com/releases/sept06/docwoods.pdf.

Juneteenth in Utica, New York

2006-08-02T11:01:00.000-05:00

Doc Woods recently wrote an article for The Utica Phoenix about the city's traditional Juneteenth celebration. You can read the article, which is in PDF format, by clicking on the link in the News Releases box at http://www.jamesarts.com. The article is reprinted here with the kind permission of The Utica Phoenix.

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Read more about it at http://www.juneteenth.com/.

"Doctuh" Michael Woods New Grooves for an American Orchestra Concert

2006-06-13T19:06:00.000-05:00

Dear Friends,

I was fortunate enough to be at "Doctuh" Michael Woods New Grooves for an American Orchestra Concert on May 2 at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.

Hamilton has a beautiful hilltop campus in the lovely town of Clinton, a couple of hours east of Albany and not far from Utica, so at first I expected a more traditional type pf concert. Their Wellin Hall theater is exceptionally lovely, a little outside the norm for such presentations, but again nothing that would lead you to expect a new groove.

However, the warmth of Doc Woods personality and music, the wonderful time spent with William Banfield and Diane Monroe, to say nothing of their superb collective and individual performances at the May 2 concert, and Wellin Hall's great, "grows on you", audience-friendly environment for such a concert made this a special and memorable evening.

Doc is onto something here, and is truly creating New Grooves for American Orchestras. He realizes that the old formulas aren't working anymore and that you can actually enjoy yourself in the classical concert hall as much as you can in the "popular", if the people onstage enjoy themselves and offer a little encouragement to the audience to cut loose.

His titles like 'Back to Bass Licks' and 'Rakinda House' will give you a clue of what he's up to, but only when you hear him playing a very funky bass line, or the wonderful Diane Monroe's fiddle improvs, or the expansive and often lush music of William Banfield do you really begin to consider the limitless possibilities of these New Grooves.

You'll be hearing more about this music and this wonderful composer, and I hope that American orchestras will get with the program and find some New Grooves for themselves and their audiences.

Jeff James

"New Grooves for an American Orchestra" Concert Review

2006-06-13T18:53:00.000-05:00

by Cassandra Harris-Lockwood
-Reprinted with the kind permission of The Utica Phoenix

From the piano virtuoso Shar-Shalom Strong demonstrating head, forearm and derrière technique on the Steinway to the double fisted powerhouse jazz violin of Diane Monroe, "Doc" Woods once again made clear his overstanding of music, instrumentation and composition.

Played into sound with the skills of Strong, a string quartet, led by Monroe and the full Hamilton College Symphony, Woods presented his new music compositions to the public for the first time May 2, at Hamilton College's Wellin Hall. The evening of music spirited the audience through a musical matrix spanning the spectrum from classical motifs to ultra sonic multiple rhythmic jazz challenges keeping the listener continually engaged.

This was not only and evening of music. It was also an evening of joy, laughter and fun. Many of the titles of Woods' works are double entendres. Others are playful. Doc Woods' musical brilliance is evident in his composition. His humanity is evident in his humor and his words.

Woods' esteemed colleague, Dr. William C. Banfield, author of the book, Musical Landscapes in Color, a retrospective of African American composers from the early 20th century to the present, took stage to lead the orchestra in a tribute to a deceased friend entitled, "It's All Good My Brother". Not only was Banfield's fluidity at the conductor's stand a captivating demonstration of connectedness with ones creation but his composition had a sweet and heartfelt message.

Woods' music is large and complex. Just when you think you're in the groove, when the harmony is at a place of resolve the music continues to grow, grow like a wave building, curling across a sea of sound. Impossible to compare to any one predecessor, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Michael Woods, 'the Doctuh' set forth a unique compliment of compositions incorporating a treasure of sounds, themes and rhythms.

For the last piece, 'Back to Bass Licks', Woods was not content in simply writing the charts for full orchestra, he was compelled to be a part of it as well. Playing his six string electric bass guitar, he gave up the conductor's stand to Hamilton College Prof. Heather Buchman and joined Bob Cesari, who wailed on soprano sax, as a soloist.

With his unique ability to command the worlds of classical and jazz, maneuver anywhere between solo instrument and full orchestra while continually demonstrating his own virtuosity as a performer, Doc Woods is well on his way to becoming an icon in world of 21st century music.