401 – New Celebration

Phil Woods’ New Celebration is the long-awaited follow-up to his 1997 Grammy Award-nominated release Celebration, and features many of the same players, along with a number of other world-class musicians from Woods’ Poconos home region comprising the 18-piece Festival Orchestra. All but two of the compositions – Johnny Mandel’s “Here’s to Alvy” and Al Cohn’s arrangement of Raye & de Paul’s gorgeous “You Don’t Know What Love Is” (featuring vocalist Najwa Parkins) – were specially written and arranged by Woods for this recording, which was done in April of 2012. Woods’ extraordinary writing creates an ideal setting for his solo virtuosity, as well as some excellent contributions by other members of the orchestra. But more than being a launching pad for solos, the arrangements display a mastery of context that makes each piece a fully conceived and compelling musical story. Woods’ longtime friend Quincy Jones contributes liner notes for the CD, Woods’ second album as a leader on Chiaroscuro.