The Tokyo Express - Rickey Woodard

Recorded live at Birdland in New York in June 1992, The Tokyo Express captures tenor and alto saxophonist Rickey Woodard leading a quartet with pianist James Williams, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Joe Chambers. Released on the Candid label, the album is a straight-ahead hard bop session built on a program of standards and originals, including Joe Henderson's "Recordame," the ballads "Easy Living," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and "The Very Thought of You," alongside Woodard's own uptempo title track and "Groovy Samba." Woodard, a Nashville-born saxophonist who moved to Los Angeles and became a fixture in the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, plays both tenor and alto across the set, demonstrating his big, warm tone and blues-drenched phrasing on both horns. The live setting draws out extended improvisations over the album's eight tracks, totaling over an hour of music. McBride, then only twenty and already building a reputation as one of the most in-demand young bassists in jazz, contributes authoritative walking lines and solo passages. Williams's piano comping and soloing reflect the hard bop tradition he helped sustain as a leader and sideman throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The album documents the kind of swinging, no-frills jazz club performance that defined Woodard's approach throughout his career.