Ken Woods is a guitarist with a fiery temperament and a blazing technique whose playing embraces the lessons of the masters from the great traditions of blues, rock, jazz, country, cowboy and folk music. He's a songwriter whose language spans the full breadth of American music and whose technique is underpinned by his classical and jazz training. His lyrics reflect his passions for word play, history, justice and humor.

Ken Woods is probably more widely known via his alter-ego: as the American conductor, cellist and composer Kenneth Woods. With over 50 recordings to his credit, including many ‘best of the year’ awards from publications like The Times, Gramophone and Forbes, Kenneth is the Artistic Director of the English Symphony Orchestra, the Elgar Festival and Colorado MahlerFest. But while young Kenneth was practicing cello and studying scores, young Ken was devouring records by Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin and Queen and trying to learn how to replicate what he heard and loved on the guitar.

 

The one kind of music that wasn’t often heard at the Woods’ house was rock ‘n’ roll and its many variants, so as soon as Ken started to encounter the staggering riches of rock music in the 1970’s, acquiring an electric guitar became a necessity. That initial passion for rock quickly grew to encompass jazz, funk and blues. Throughout his teens and early 20’s Ken pursued his love of guitar and classical music with equal passion, and during his years as a cello student at the world-famous Indiana University School of Music, he also did a minor in jazz, studying improvisation, composition and arranging with renowned jazz pedagogue David Baker. During these years, Ken had the opportunity to jam with many jazz and rock stars of the future.

Throughout these years, Ken played countless guitar gigs both in his own bands and as a guest and sideman, in almost all styles, including classic rock, folk music, straight-ahead jazz, metal, funk and blues. Highlights include touring as the guitarist and banjo player of the Grammy Award-winning New England Ragtime Ensemble and playing in a jazz quintet with Clyde Stubblefield, the legendary “funky drummer” from the James Brown band. His passion project at the time was a group that was focused on original music that brought together the members’ shared love of funk, rock and jazz, seeking to blend Jimi Hendrixian guitar sounds with James Brown-esque grooves and Wayne Shorter-tastic harmonies. Following the end of that project, Ken’s time and energy (and, to an extent, enthusiasm) for the guitar and its related musics  waned while he focused on building a conducting career and raising a family. When his priceless amplifier was destroyed in a fire in 2007, there didn’t seem to be any reason to replace it.

All remained quiet for over a decade until his father offered to buy Ken a new amp for a significant birthday. Having not bought an amp in over 27 years, Ken opted for a little Vox modeler so that he could experiment and figure out what kind of music he wanted to play and what he wanted to play through. Soon, that long dormant passion for improvisation, songwriting and experimentation had returned with a vengeance. Although Ken’s intent had been that the guitar would be a hobby, he gradually came to the realization that the desire to improvise, write, collaborate, perform and create again was overpowering. And, before too long, there were many more amps and guitars around the music room at his home in Wales.

Since returning to the guitar arena, Ken has headlined concerts at several music festivals in the USA and UK. In the studio, Woods is busily developing several projects - a jam band/Americana/blues group, and group dedicated to the kind of funk rock with a jazz twist he’d been pioneering in the 80’s and 90’s and a group specializing in the kind of jazz fusion associated with his 1970’s heroes like Jeff Beck, the Tony Williams Lifetime, Freddie Hubbard and Allan Holdsworth.  He’s often heard blurring the barriers between classical and rock music, regularly performing music by composers like Elgar and Mahler on the guitar.

 

Ken remains more inspired than ever by his childhood heroes, particularly Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Brian May and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Jeff Beck holds a very special place in Ken’s musical heart for his unique achievements in both rock and fusion, and his totally unique approach to sound, and Ken organised Jeff Beck tribute concert at the 2023 Elgar Festival. Many of his jazz heroes are horn players - Miles, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy, but he also adores jazz guitar masters from Wes Montgomery to Alan Holdsworth. 

Since emerging from his decades long hiatus, Ken has embraced his inner Rip van Winkel and been delighted to discover that guitar did not die in his absence. He’s found new inspiration in the incredible playing of modern-day guitar slingers including Michael Landau, fellow-cheesehead Greg Koch, Jimmy Herring, Joey Landreth, Andy Timmons, and Darrell Scott. And he feels incredibly lucky that Eric Johnson and Billy Gibbons are still playing better than ever.