Tony Woods was born in Southampton and grew up in Chilworth Old Village. He began playing folk music at age five with his father. Tony Woods is a graduate of Keele University and Leeds College of Music. He also received awards from The Guildhall School of Music for outstanding performance, saxophone and soloist’s prizes at the Dunkirk International Jazz Festival. Tony Woods Project was founded in the late 90’s. It has released four albums featuring original folk-inspired compositions, High Seas (1997) and Lowlands (2004). Wind Shadows (2009), Hidden Fires (2017) are some of its most acclaimed recordings. The band has received airplay on BBC Radio 3 Jazz FM, UK Jazz Radio. They have toured extensively in the UK and performed at many festivals, including London, Swanage and Ealing. Tony and Pete formed the Avalon Trio to explore the possibility of improvising on English classic music. The debut album, “Forlana”, was released in 2011. It received great critical acclaim and earned interviews on Jazz FM and BBC Radio 3. Tony has performed at the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall as well as the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Pizza Express Jazz Club, and the Purcell room. He has been a session musician in many London studios, including Lansdown Studios and Angel Studio, Abbey Road, Maidavale Studios, and Maidavale Studios. He performed frequently with Michael Garrick both live and on CD in large and small ensembles. He often performed with Nette Robinson, his wife. Nette’s Little Big Band’s debut CD, “The Little Big Band Players”, was released in 2010. In 2012, Michael Garrick’s Lyric Ensemble, featuring Tony and Nette, released “Home Thoughts”, Michael Garrick’s last album. 2012 saw the release “Seventh Daze”, the debut album by Kwartet-Tony in collaboration with Tim Whitehead, a longtime musical friend. 2017 saw the release “Hidden Fires”, the latest Tony Woods Project album. This has received several four-star reviews and was interviewed on BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Now program. from https://tonywoods.org
