BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY

 
A tenor saxophonist who was signed to Gotham Records in the spring of 1949 and promoted by the label as their newest “sax sensation”, indicating they had high hopes for him, but once under contract they didn’t exhibit any evidence of that initial interest in him.

Bringing him into the studio on May 26 they had him and his band cut two instrumentals, but rather than allow him to cut four songs which was the universal standard for all three hour recording sessions, they instead had him back another new signee, vocalist J.B. Summers, on two sides of his own.

The split session would’ve been bad enough but Gotham Records compounded this problem by then issuing the first record as a split release, giving one side to Summers and one to Woodland, thereby not allowing either to receive the full attention of listeners or in terms of whatever limited promotion they had.

Within a few weeks they seemed to realize their mistake but made things worse by pulling that single and putting out each side separately with the second cuts from that May 26th date as the new B-sides. By this time the records were lost in the shuffle and while Summers was brought back in for more sessions with different backing musicians, Woodland’s career as a recording artist was over almost as soon as it began.
 
 
EDDIE WOODLAND DISCOGRAPHY (Records Reviewed To Date On Spontaneous Lunacy):

STRANGER IN TOWN
(Gotham 186; July, 1949)
As sideman… behind J. B. Summers. Woodland plays with appropriate fire and succeeds in creating the wild atmosphere the song calls for behind Summers’ exuberant vocals. (7)

JUMPIN’ WITH PIO
(Gotham 186; July, 1949)
Solid instrumental that is lacking in structure, particularly melodically, but is played with admirable enthusiasm and skill by Woodland and fits in well with the boisterous sounds that defined this style of rock. (5)

BACK DOOR MAMA
(Gotham 190; August, 1949)
As sideman… behind J. B. Summers. Though Woodland’s mild support is almost incongruous stylistically to Summers’ harsher vocals, it actually works well by keeping him in check and preventing it from getting too intense. (5)

SNAP CASE
(Gotham 194; August, 1949)
An early farewell from somebody who deserved more chances, Woodland proves himself once again to be a talented sax player perfectly suited to handle rock ‘n’ roll, there’s nothing flashy about him but he isn’t lacking anything either and he shows admirable creativity to boot. (5)