Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Mike Wofford’s Other Life

The new Mike Wofford biopic opens with the pianist approaching a Steinway grand. He shuffles some sheet music, then punches out a little Horace Silver tune. The film maker leaves just enough of the Silver lead-in to establish Wofford’s credentials: stellar, but relatively unknown outside of jazz circles.

“My mother was a semi professional singer when I was very young,” Wofford says to the camera, “when we first moved to San Diego from Texas, where I was born.” He says she rented an upright, and that’s where it all began.

“I must have taken to it early.”

Wofford is the latest subject in a series presented by a local non-profit called the Snapshots Music and Arts Foundation. Producer/director Jonathan Bewley says he decided on Wofford because of the poverty of information available on the national-league jazz man with a style critics have called "personal, elegant, ripping at times, but with a mysterious ability to charm sounds from a piano without appearing to manhandle the keys."

“There was just this vacuum of biographical information around Mike. I started pushing the idea to Hofmann [jazz flutist Holly Hofmann is married to Wofford and was likewise profiled by Bewley] that it would be a good time to begin putting material together.” One thing led to another, including Wofford’s consent. He’s not shy, but neither does he seek the spotlight. “Holly Hofmann,” Bewley says, “was the instigator.”

Wofford grew up in San Diego but was living in Los Angeles during the 1960s, working as a studio musician and playing in television-studio bands for programs such as The Bill Cosby Show and The Jacksons. “This was ‘the Five,’ you know, and they’d had those first big hits, and I worked in the band that backed them for several months.”

Meaning that Wofford can pretty much play anything be it pop, jazz, or rock. These days he favors straight-ahead jazz, but he was Ella Fitzgerald’s music director/pianist for a decade. Then, there’s Phil Spector.

“I was on one of those legendary sessions where he shot off a gun.” Wofford worked on the first version of John Lennon’s Rock ’n’ Roll. He also performed with pop stars Harry Nilsson, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and contemporary jazz leaders such as Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, and Benny Golson.

“He does not talk about any of it,” Bewley says. “I had to pull this stuff out of him: what about that time you played with the Jackson family? He does not bring this stuff up.” The Snapshots crew filmed both at the Hofmann/Wofford residence and they shot a series of private shows at the Athenaeum in La Jolla.

He thinks musicians will find a lot to learn by listening to and watching Wofford. For example, “He said he was returning more and more to melody in the playing of jazz. It’s foundational. Maybe all that got lost and abstracted during the bebop era.”

Bewley is Snapshot’s producer, director, and writer. He also works as a freelancer in video production. And, he plays the drums. “One of the smartest things I did was figure out that there are already a lot of great studio drummers out there.”

It began as a love of music, he says of Snapshots, as a means to preserve artist’s work on film. Arts Access Through Film is in Bewley’s mission statement. He favors jazz, classical, world, and crossover. The Wofford documentary is available to watch free of charge at www.snapshotsfoundation.com. Thus far, Bewley’s produced documentaries about local performers including Holly Hofmann, Anoushka (daughter of Ravi) Shankar, Celino Romero of the Del Mar-based Romero guitar quartet, Mark Dresser, and Gregory Page.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"

The new Mike Wofford biopic opens with the pianist approaching a Steinway grand. He shuffles some sheet music, then punches out a little Horace Silver tune. The film maker leaves just enough of the Silver lead-in to establish Wofford’s credentials: stellar, but relatively unknown outside of jazz circles.

“My mother was a semi professional singer when I was very young,” Wofford says to the camera, “when we first moved to San Diego from Texas, where I was born.” He says she rented an upright, and that’s where it all began.

“I must have taken to it early.”

Wofford is the latest subject in a series presented by a local non-profit called the Snapshots Music and Arts Foundation. Producer/director Jonathan Bewley says he decided on Wofford because of the poverty of information available on the national-league jazz man with a style critics have called "personal, elegant, ripping at times, but with a mysterious ability to charm sounds from a piano without appearing to manhandle the keys."

“There was just this vacuum of biographical information around Mike. I started pushing the idea to Hofmann [jazz flutist Holly Hofmann is married to Wofford and was likewise profiled by Bewley] that it would be a good time to begin putting material together.” One thing led to another, including Wofford’s consent. He’s not shy, but neither does he seek the spotlight. “Holly Hofmann,” Bewley says, “was the instigator.”

Wofford grew up in San Diego but was living in Los Angeles during the 1960s, working as a studio musician and playing in television-studio bands for programs such as The Bill Cosby Show and The Jacksons. “This was ‘the Five,’ you know, and they’d had those first big hits, and I worked in the band that backed them for several months.”

Meaning that Wofford can pretty much play anything be it pop, jazz, or rock. These days he favors straight-ahead jazz, but he was Ella Fitzgerald’s music director/pianist for a decade. Then, there’s Phil Spector.

“I was on one of those legendary sessions where he shot off a gun.” Wofford worked on the first version of John Lennon’s Rock ’n’ Roll. He also performed with pop stars Harry Nilsson, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and contemporary jazz leaders such as Chet Baker, Shelly Manne, and Benny Golson.

“He does not talk about any of it,” Bewley says. “I had to pull this stuff out of him: what about that time you played with the Jackson family? He does not bring this stuff up.” The Snapshots crew filmed both at the Hofmann/Wofford residence and they shot a series of private shows at the Athenaeum in La Jolla.

He thinks musicians will find a lot to learn by listening to and watching Wofford. For example, “He said he was returning more and more to melody in the playing of jazz. It’s foundational. Maybe all that got lost and abstracted during the bebop era.”

Bewley is Snapshot’s producer, director, and writer. He also works as a freelancer in video production. And, he plays the drums. “One of the smartest things I did was figure out that there are already a lot of great studio drummers out there.”

It began as a love of music, he says of Snapshots, as a means to preserve artist’s work on film. Arts Access Through Film is in Bewley’s mission statement. He favors jazz, classical, world, and crossover. The Wofford documentary is available to watch free of charge at www.snapshotsfoundation.com. Thus far, Bewley’s produced documentaries about local performers including Holly Hofmann, Anoushka (daughter of Ravi) Shankar, Celino Romero of the Del Mar-based Romero guitar quartet, Mark Dresser, and Gregory Page.

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Musician Profile : Mike Wofford

Next Article

Mike Wofford

Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader