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Tony Woods Project

Wind Shadows

33JAZZ196

Described by reedsman/flautist Tony Woods as 'music of light and dark, sweet and bitter, the wind and the shadow', and containing in its notes references to Eric Dolphy, religious poet George Herbert and traditional children's songs, this album comes from what might be termed the lyrical/spiritual/pastoral section of the jazz spectrum.

Woods himself plays saxophones, clarinet, wood flute and hulusi, Rob Millett vibes, marimba and gongs, and it is chiefly their interplay and the resultant textural variety that defines the music of the 'Project'.

Also present, however, is electric guitarist Mike Outram, and his spiky but eloquent and fluent playing brings a welcome edge of abrasiveness to the proceedings, a useful counterpoint to the folkishness of the band sound (Woods began playing folk music with his father at the age of five and was raised in Chilworth Old Village, Hampshire).

Consequently, there is a muscularity underlying the gently meditative quality of Wind Shadows that clearly escaped the attention of the audience member at the Greenwich Jazz Festival (bravely quoted by Woods on the sleeve of this CD) who accused the band of 'giving jazz a bad name'.

Also important to the band sound are insistently driving bassist Andy Hammill and drummer Milo Fell, so (as with previous bands operating in this area – Danny Thompson's Whatever immediately springs to mind) the album proves that jazz and folk, intelligently combined, can produce powerful and affecting music.