I thought the title of this tune was appropriate for today's [May 11th] celebration of Moms because who among us doesn't recognize them as SUPERWOMAN?
Phil Woods is certainly no stranger to recordings made either in the studio or in performance, as a leader or as a sideman, in a big band setting or with a combo. In 1987, Paolo Piangiarelli founded the Philology label in Macerata, Italy to record him and many of his contemporaries like Lee Konitz and Chet Baker.
A few years before these 1976 performances, Phil had disbanded his very successful European Rhythm Machine, moved back to the states from Paris, relocated to California for a while and fronted a group that used electronic keyboards and sound effect devices. He found California to be a wasteland, both professionally and personally [he went through a divorce].
But by 1976, he had relocated to the Delaware Gap area of the Poconos mountains in Pennsylvania, married Jill Goodwin and formed a new group with his brother-in-law Bill on drums which would be together for about 40 years until Phil’s death in 2015.
His personal life was together and he was happily leading a hot new band; this contentment certainly shines through his playing on these recordings.