Mitch Woods

Biography Woods got his start playing clubs near the State University of New York Buffalo campus. He moved to San Francisco in 1971.

Originally a student of jazz and classical music, on relocation to the West Coast, Woods started playing jump and rhythm and blues. Upon hearing Louis Jordan's jive, Woods played throughout the 1970s as a soloist at local clubs. In 1984, Blind Pig released the debut album of the Rocket 88s, the band he had formed with HiTide Harris four years earlier. Steady Date with Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s led to a national concert tour, including the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1985, as well as several European engagements. In 1988, they issued their second LP, Mr. Boogie's Back in Town. Their next album, Jump for Joy, appeared in 2001. In 2007 Woods was nominated for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award at the Blues Awards in Memphis, Tennessee, presented by the Blues Foundation.

Latterly he and his band toured with the Efes Pilsen Blues Festival.

Discography Steady Date with Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88s (1984) Blind Pig Records Mr. Boogie's Back in Town (1988) Blind Pig Solid Gold Cadillac (1991) Blind Pig Shakin' the Shack (1993) Blind Pig Keeper of the Flame (1996) Viceroy/Lightyear Records Jump for Joy! (2001) Blind Pig Big Easy Boogie (2006) Club 88 Records Jukebox Drive (2008) El Toro Records (with The Lazy Jumpers) Gumbo Blues (2010) Club 88/VizzTone Records Blues Beyond Borders: Live in Istanbul (2012) Club 88/VizzTone Records Jammin' on the High Cs (2015) Club 88/VizzTone Records Friends Along Way (2017) eOneMusic/EOM A Tip of the Hat to Fats (2019) Blind Pig