Music archive entry

A fortunate consequence of the association of the saxophone with jazz is that many jazz composers have written for the saxophone quartet. One such is alto saxophonist Phil Woods. Born in 1931 in Massachusetts, Woods studied at New York's Julliard School of Music before establishing a reputation as one of the foremost alto saxophonists of the post-Charlie Parker generation. He has written a number of works for chamber groups, including a sonata for alto saxophone and piano.

Despite its title, Three Improvisations is entirely written-out and allows no opportunity for improvisation by the players. The first movement is headed 'Presto, in a jazz style'. This is followed by a slow, meditative movement featuring the alto and baritone saxophones.

The final movement is very fast with many changes of metre. Towards the end of the movement, there is a fiercely atonal section that seems to allude to the saxophone quartet written by another American contemporary composer, Lukas Foss.