Ujam Records

Fred Woodard: Reviews

by Jim Musser, Iowa City Press-Citizen, July 25, 2002

Based in the Boston area since studying jazz guitar and composition at Berklee, former Iowa Citian, Woodard continues to expand his impressive, blues-informed chops on the follow-up to his excellent 1999 debut, "Arrival." Requisite traces of past masters Grant Green and Wes Montgomery crop up naturally in the flow, but Woodard is developing a distinct, tone-cool style that makes forays into disparate genres go down smooth as silk. Just as impressively, the guitarist's three original compositions more than hold their own alongside notable works by Green, Don Pullen and Consuelo Velazquez.