Mon Nov 17
Griffin Woodard is a composer, bass clarinetist, and bandleader who believes in the transformative power of music. As an instrumentalist, Woodard’s primary focus is playing the bass clarinet in a jazz context. He has dedicated years of study to acquiring an in-depth understanding of the rich historical lineage of jazz clarinetists and bass clarinetists from Johnny Dodds to Eric Dolphy.
As a bandleader, Woodard has released four albums - Live at the Deer Head Inn, Precious One, Interpretation, and Completion were all released from 2022-2023. His quartet and quintets have performed at the Deer Head Inn, New Brunswick Jazz Project, Toronto University Jazz Festival, COTA Jazz Festival, An die Musik, Ice House Jazz & Arts Festival, Wandering Barman, Jazz On Main, Maureen’s Jazz Cellar, The Lafayette Bar, The Bookstore Speakeasy, Oberlin College, Steel Club, and Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts. He has performed alongside such luminaries as Ravi Coltrane, Gene Perla, Abraham Burton, Rudy Royston, and Danny Walsh.
Woodard, Gene Perla, and Hugh Kline created Sundays at Parker Studio, an intimate livestream concert series which is about to reach its 50th episode. The trio also founded the SongSmiths Alliance, which regularly performs together and dons the vests handmade by Perla’s mother for the legendary power trio, Stone Alliance.
Woodard’s compositions have been performed by a variety of esteemed ensembles and soloists, including the New England Conservatory Jazz Composers’ Workshop Orchestra, the Bach
Festival Orchestra of Bethlehem, the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, concert pianist Michelle Cann, and organist Stephen Williams. In 2022, Woodard was awarded the ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award for his piece, “Kyrie.”
Woodard earned a B.M. in Jazz Studies from Oberlin Conservatory in 2020 and an M.M. in Jazz Composition at New England Conservatory in 2022.