David Woodford

David Woodford’s name may not be instantly recognizable to all music lovers, but whether they realize it or not, most have heard his tenor- and baritone-saxophone mastery at some point, given that the sheer volume of material he recorded is rivaled by few musicians of any era. From Aerosmith, Rod Stewart, Bonnie Raitt, The Shirelles and Dwight Yoakam to Roy Orbison, Aaron Neville, P. Diddy, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eddie Money – to name a fraction of the list – he worked alongside a mind-numbing array of talent and was as in-demand a session/touring musician as there’s ever been.

Musical beginnings, Berklee, Other training

Born in 1948, Woodford grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts and started playing piano at age eight, taking after his mother, who was an accomplished player. His first paying gigs – “casuals,” as they were called, meaning private parties – came when he was 12 and his first on-air experience was at age 15, when he appeared on The Ken Carter Pepsi Dance Party on Boston’s WCOP-AM in October 1963.

In 1970, he graduated from Berklee College of Music with a bachelor’s in musical composition; during his senior year, he taught R&B horn arranging at the college. While at Berklee, he took private lessons with faculty members Joe Viola, founding chair of Berklee’s woodwind department,  Jimmy Mosher (before he joined Buddy Rich’s band in 1967) and his good friend Charlie Mariano. “I can’t think of a better place to go to college than Boston,” he says of his Berklee years. “Half the population of the city between September and June is college students, and there are lots of places to play.”

Swallow, Intermedia, Aerosmith

In 1968, Woodford co-founded the nine-piece (later 11-piece) band Swallow with Vern Miller (bass/vocals, formerly of The Remains), Phil Greene (guitar/vocals), Parker Wheeler (harmonica/vocals),  Bob Camacho (organ/vocals), Mario “Mick” Aranda (drums), Kerry Blount (alto sax), Jay DeWald (trumpet), Lenny Witham (trumpet) and Gordon Kennedy (trombone). In the early ‘70s, he was the house horn player at Intermedia Sound Studios, including when Aerosmith cut their debut disc there in 1972. He appears on the band’s 1974 album Get Your Wings, recorded at The Record Plant in New York City.

In May 1999, Woodford joined the “bad boys from Boston” on stage at the Hollywood Bowl for their song “Walking the Dog,” which was the first time he’d appeared with the band in 25 years. He hadn’t seen guitarist Joe Perry, bassist Tom Hamilton or drummer Joey Kramer even once during that time, and both Hamilton and Kramer said it took them a minute to realize that it was actually Woodford when he walked on stage.

Other collaborations, Broadway, Television, Film

Woodford was an official member of several bands including jazz-funk fusion group Dr. Strut, playing on their self-titled 1979 Motown release, but the vast majority of his work was as a session/touring musician. New England-based artists with whom he collaborated include James Montgomery, Tom Rush, Livingston Taylor and Boston.

In the 1980s, he worked on the Star Search television show, arranging and playing with the studio band. In the 1990s, he performed on Broadway in the musical “Smokey Joe’s Café” and he was the man behind the riveting sax riff on Glen Frey’s “The Heat is On,” used in the film Beverly Hills Cop. Other scores to which he contributed include the films Beverly Hills Cop II, Top Gun, Over the Top and Quicksilver and the television soundtracks for Happy Days and The Tonight Show. He even contributed sax licks to “The Hockey Puck Song,” sung by none other than Boston Bruins great Phil Esposito.

Retirement, Death, Legacy

Woodford stopped playing music in 2016. “It was a nice run, and I got to play with many of my musical heroes,” he said. “One of them was Billy Vera. I only played one gig with Billy and The Beaters, at The Baked Potato in Pasadena around 1995. Ironically, Billy and The Beaters were the band that replaced The Dynamic Groovadelics, otherwise known as Dr. Strut, for the Midnight on Monday show at The Troubadour.”

Asked for his reflections on his 50-plus-year career, Woodford said nothing that happened to him professionally from 1970 on would have been possible without the help and support of his first wife, Caryl “Weinstock” Woodford. “I just write and play music,” he said. “Caryl did all the hard stuff that made it possible for me to write and play music in the right places at the right time. Love and thanks, Caryl!”

On December 2, 2022, Woodford died at age 74 in Los Angeles, where he had lived since 1977. As anyone who knew him will confirm, his remarkable success and accomplishments are matched only by his natural affability. I want to offer my heartfelt thanks for the support and information he provided for this piece.

(by Mark Turner)

Gold/platinum singles/album credits

“The Heat is On” (Glenn Frey), “Danger Zone” (Kenny Loggins), “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” (John Mellencamp), “Long Distance Lover” (Sheena Easton), Get Your Wings (Aerosmith), Live Bootleg (Aerosmith), Top Gun (Soundtrack), Beverly Hills Cop (soundtrack), Beverly Hills Cop II (soundtrack), Over The Top (soundtrack), The California Raisins Album, The Best of Rod Stewart, Camouflage (Rod Stewart), Foot Loose and Fancy Free (Rod Stewart), “Downtown Train” (Rod Stewart), If We F