After a five-year residence in Paris, and a very unproductive year in Los Angeles, Woods headed to New York in late 1973.On his way, he stopped in Denver to pick up drummer Bill Goodwin’s sister, Jill (who later would become Woods’ wife), to accompany him on the trip. They stopped in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and stayed with longtime friend Jerry Dodgion. While there, Dodgion got a call to do a week with Legrand at Jimmy’s in NY. Eddie Daniels had worked the first week but had a conflict for the second. Dodgion wasn’t available for the week either, but recommended Woods, who was standing right there.
Woods took the gig, recording the now legendary, “You Must Believe in Spring.” Woods won a Grammy for his tour-de-force performance, and later said the recording put him back on the map. Among the hundreds of recordings Woods made in his career, two other truly notable recordings stand out; “The Quintessence,” (1961) from the Quincy Jones album of the same name and “Just the Way You Are,” (1977) from “The Stranger,” by Billy Joel.
