About
Rickey Woodard delivers one chorus of tenor saxophone on Jimmy Van Heusen's "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," an exercise in pure tone production and melodic storytelling at just 53 BPM on his live album The Tokyo Express. Over the 32-bar AABA form in F, each phrase is shaped with the patience and emotional weight that defines great ballad playing, his approach placing him firmly in the lineage of great tenor ballad interpreters from Lester Young through Stan Getz. As the first of two soloists, his single chorus demonstrates that the slow tempo of a ballad demands not fewer ideas but more carefully chosen ones, his rich tenor sound filling the live Tokyo performance space with warmth and intimate expression.
Rickey Woodard was 41 to 42 years old at the time.
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