Lyman Woodard (March 3, 1942 – February 25, 2009) was a Detroit-based jazz organist noted for fusing his music with Latin and Afro-Cuban-inspired rhythms.[1] From the late 1960s, Woodard recorded with a number of Motown acts, and served as musical director for Martha and the Vandellas. But releases – such as his 1975 Saturday Night Special – and the legacy of his namesake outfit, the Lyman Woodard Organization, helped define Motor City's lesser-known jazz-funk heritage.
Before establishing the Lyman Woodard Organization, he comprised a jazz trio with drummer Melvin Davis and guitarist Dennis Coffey; the ensemble made its reputation playing numerous shows at a nightclub called Cobb's Corner. In 1968, Woodard and Melvin Davis recorded the album Hair And Thangs with Dennis Coffey. Although the album was released as a solo project by Dennis Coffey in 1969, a single containing "It's Your Thing" ("It's Your Thang" on the LP) and "River Rouge" was released with the artist(s) as "Dennis Coffey and the Lyman Woodard Trio".[2] In 1979, Woodard returned to Cobb's Corner with the Organization to record Don't Stop the Groove, for the Corridor label. The 1987 recording, Dedicacion, featured violinist Regina Carter.
In March 2009, Wax Poetics Records reissued a limited pressing of Saturday Night Special as a double LP on 180-gram vinyl.
When Cobb's Corner nightclub owner Henry Normile was murdered, followed by the in-street shooting and death of Eddie Jefferson, the heart of the Detroit jazz scene was ripped apart. Through the advent of the Labor Day Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festivals starting in 1980, things picked back up measurably, but the club scene has never been the same. This live recording of the Lyman Woodard Organization, which was taped the day before Normile was killed in his next door apartment, more than any other album or event exemplified the never say die spirit of Motor City jazz. It also was a hallmark for a unique style of the music, an urban rhythm & blues infused contemporary jazz that stood tall for both listeners and dancers during the tail-end of the disco movement. Woodard was in his prime, determined that his idea was singular, and went beyond soul-jazz into a realm where only he could claim ownership. With guitarist Robert Lowe and saxophonist Allan Barnes, who would both go on to national acclaim as leaders, the Organization was a powerhouse in live performance not to be denied, and for sure a solid sending crowd pleaser. A much better recording than his studio cult classic Saturday Night Special, this live set laid the groundwork for the continuation of Woodard's career for decades to come, and showed his fellow Detroiter's that better days lay ahead. Where the title track is happy and a bit more commercial than the rest with its slinky, straight, fingerpopping, sublime beat and seductive vocal line, "Disco Tease" prances along in a hard rock vein with conga accents from Lorenzo Brown and chicken scratch, dramatic guitar chords from Lowe. "Down Lowe" is a concrete, fatback groove from the guitarist, while "Djarum" turns the wick down in a slow, sexy nightshade visage, with Kerry Campbell's soprano sax expanding the horn section with Woodard's organ in stretched out phrases. The appropriately titled "Theme in Search of a Sports Spectacular" is the killer track, as trumpeter Marcus Belgrave joins the band in an Olympic sprint, an irresistible melody that is catchy, infectious, memorable, and anthematic as any warrior clarion call to battle in the athletic arena. This driven, tenacious, forceful piece of music still stands the test of time for its ferocious attitude and champion-like strut.. The P-Vine label has issued this on CD (with two extra tracks; "Ron's Song" by trumpeter Ron Jackson, and "Kimba,") documenting not only the darkest days, but the bright hope a financially strapped Detroit offers to the rest of the world, and the determination Woodard always exemplified.
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