Saxophonist Woodard to lead Pierce Street Jazz concert

  School of Business   Arts+Culture  

Saxophone great Rickey Woodard, a veteran of stage and studio and sideman for some of music’s biggest acts, will headline the next Pierce Street Jazz concert at La Sierra University.

The Rickey Woodard Quartet will perform Wed., Oct. 15 at 7 p.m., in the Troesh Conference Center of La Sierra’s Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business. Joining Woodard are Henry “The Skipper” Franklin on bass, Theo Saunders on piano, and Ramon Banda on drums. Admission is free.

Known for his warm, resonant sound, Woodard arrives with decades of experience playing on recordings, in performances, and on tour with many headline groups and musicians including the Ray Charles band, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Frank Capp, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Smith, B.B. King, Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, and John Pizzarelli. He also worked as an artist for Concord Records.

Woodard cut his musical teeth playing in a family band, according to a biography on AllMusic.com. He studied at Tennessee State University where he majored in music then joined the Ray Charles band in 1980, touring with the group for seven years. He told the Los Angeles Times in 1993, “I loved being in that band, getting a chance to travel the world and being able to listen to Ray. … he and the song become one. That really influenced me. I'd get so wrapped up listening to him that I’d forget to come in and play my part.”

La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Pkwy., Riverside, Calif. For further information call 951-785-2148.

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