UA’s Celebrity Series Presents the Phil Woods/Bud Shank Quintet

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama School of Music and the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation will present the Phil Woods/Bud Shank Quintet on April 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Moody Music Building on campus.

Woods and Shank have been integral members of the international jazz scene for 60 years. Respected musicians, composers, and arrangers, the two have performed with bands, as the featured performer and with their own group in countless concerts, festivals, nightclubs, and recording sessions.

Woods has recorded with jazz greats such as Benny Goodman, Quincy Jones and Thelonious Monk, has been featured on soundtrack scores such as “The Hustler” and “Twelve Angry Men,” and was recently honored with the 2001 “Beacons of Jazz” award and the 2004 “Jazz Times Readers Poll” award.

He is active as a bandleader, composer, arranger and soloist worldwide, but is at home in Delaware Water Gap, Penn., where he has lived since 1976.

Shank first came to prominence in the big bands of Charlie Barnet and Stan Kenton during the late 1940s. In the 1970s and 80s Shank joined with Ray Brown, Jeff Hamilton, and Laurindo Almeida to form the world-renowned “L.A. Four,” who recorded and toured extensively through the decade.

Shank helped to popularize both Latin-flavored and chamber jazz music, and also performed with orchestras as diverse as the Royal Philharmonic, the New American Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Big Band, Stan Kenton’s Neophonic Orchestra, and the legendary Duke Ellington.

The year 2005 will see the 22nd year of the “Bud Shank Workshop and Jazz Festival” at its new home in Albuquerque, N.M. His workshop emphasizes direct interaction with the faculty in both master class and combo settings, with additional classes in big band, history of jazz, theory, and other areas of interest.

Because of his early retirement due to health reasons, Billy Taylor and his trio will not appear as scheduled.

This is the 16th year the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation has brought internationally acclaimed talent and underwritten the performances of world-class performers at UA. Tickets prices for the concert are $22 and $15 for general admission and $7 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets call the School of Music box office at 205/348-7111.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the college have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Team.