Woody Herman: Thundering Herd, 1977

Last week, I heard from Peter Coppock, who came across a newly posted concert by Woody Herman and His Thundering Herd in 1977. As Peter rightly noted, “The late '70s Herds get overlooked. Woody is in a groovy mood here and using a cane because he had just survived a near fatal car accident.

“I met him when I was 15 and studying trumpet. I told him it was my goal to someday play for him. Woody said, 'You better hurry up kid, I’m not getting any younger!' ”

Bill Kirchner notes that the personnel includes Jeff Hamilton on drums, Pat Coil on piano and Marc Johnson on bass, with Frank Tiberi, Gary Anderson and Joe Lovano on tenor saxophones.

Here's Woody in concert in Europe in 1977...