WOODY WILSON

The Soul of Jazz

Leave it to Woody Wilson to create a scene. Live jazz in the Valley is the better for it.

The Executive Producer of the Ravenscroft Jazz Series is a self-described arts and culture entrepreneur. For the last 15 years, Wilson has made live jazz in the Valley a focus of his seemingly boundless creative energy. He founded a jazz series at the Tempe Center for the Arts while writing the newspaper comic strips “Judge Parker” and “Rex Morgan, MD.”

“We’re in business to promote the art form,” Wilson says of jazz. “There’s a lot of live music (in the Valley) and most of it is jazz. I’d like to think we contribute to the scene.”

The scene at the new, intimate Ravenscroft Hall venue that opened in Scottsdale carries some of the heart and soul behind Wilson’s Lakeshore Music series, which took place for most of its 14 years at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Lakeshore Music merged with Ravenscroft Jazz in 2022 in a move that ensures the Valley will continue to experience the artistry of some of the best jazz performers in the world.

Wilson arrived in Arizona in 1980 and found work at the Phoenix Gazette, where he wrote concert reviews among other things. He left newspaper writing to start the “Showtime West” trade publication that he later sold to Dillard’s Box Office. His dream of writing comic strips came true in 1991 when he succeeded Nick Dallis.

But jazz is the vehicle Wilson uses to enrich people lives. He used it in a cultural exchange program for Cuban and American musicians. Locally, it’s at the center of the scene he wants to create for Valley music lovers wanting a chill concert experience.

“The significance (of creating a jazz scene) is people have a great time,” Wilson says. “It’s just a lovely evening out on the town. … It’s a pretty hip thing.”

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