Britt Woodman

Britt Woodman (June 4, 1920 in Los Angeles – October 13, 2000 in Hawthorne, California) was a jazz trombonist. He is best known for his work with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus.

He knew Mingus from childhood, but first worked with Phil Moore and Les Hite. After service in World War II he played with Boyd Raeburn before joining with Lionel Hampton in 1946. During the 1950s he worked with Ellington. As a member of Ellington's band he can be heard on Such Sweet Thunder (1957), Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (also 1957), Black, Brown, and Beige (1958) and Ellington Indigos (1958).

In 1960 he left Ellington to work in a pit orchestra. Later he worked with Mingus and can be heard on the album Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963). In the 1970s he led his own octet and worked with pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi. In 1989 he was in the personnel for the album Epitaph dedicated to the previously unrecorded music of Charles Mingus.

Steve Turre, among others, have cited him as an influence.

Discography

With Gene Ammons

• Free Again (Prestige, 1971)

With Ruth Brown

• Ruth Brown '65 (Mainstream, 1965)

With John Coltrane

• Africa Brass (Impulse, 1961)

With Tadd Dameron

• The Magic Touch (Riverside, 1962)

With Miles Davis

• Blue Moods (Debut, 1955)

With Duke Ellington

• The 1952 Seattle Concert (RCA Victor, 1954)
• The Complete Porgy and Bess (Bethlehem, 1956)
• Such Sweet Thunder (Columbia, 1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook (Verve, 1957) - with Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington
• Indigos (Columbia, 1957)
• Black, Brown, and Beige (Columbia, 1958) - featuring Mahalia Jackson

With Dizzy Gillespie

• Gillespiana (Verve, 1960)
• Carnegie Hall Concert (Verve, 1961)

With Chico Hamilton

• The Gamut (Solid State, 1968)

With Hank Jones and Oliver Nelson

• Happenings (Impulse!, 1966)

With Junior Mance

• The Soul of Hollywood (Jazzland, 1962)

With Charles Mingus

• The Complete Town Hall Concert (Blue Note, 1962 [1994])
• Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (Impulse!, 1963)
• Epitaph (Columbia, 1989)

With Blue Mitchell

• Smooth as the Wind (Riverside, 1961)

With James Moody

• The Blues and Other Colors (Milestone, 1969)

With Zoot Sims with the Benny Carter Orchestra

• Passion Flower: Zoot Sims Plays Duke Ellington (1979)

With Billy Taylor

• Taylor Made Jazz (Argo, 1959)

With Clark Terry

• Duke with a Difference (Riverside, 1957)

With Teri Thornton

• Devil May Care (Riverside, 1961)

With Jimmy Woode

• The Colorful Strings of Jimmy Woode (Argo, 1957)

External links

• Interview of Britt Woodman, part of Central Avenue Sounds Oral History Project, Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.
• All Music