Philip Woo - Legendary #funk #soul and #jazz session keyboardist #royayers #maze #chineseamerican

When it comes to piano and electric keyboards, Philip Woo is a legend! One of the leading funk, soul and jazz session keyboardists of the 1970s and 1980s, Philip Woo @funkytweak was also a band member of Roy Ayers’ Ubiquity, Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly, and Cold Bold & Together. ⠀ A child prodigy hailing from Seattle, by the time he reached high school Woo was a local funk band fixture, including being in a group that also featured a teenage Kenny G. That was until Ayers came to town and took him away to New York at age 19 to join the jazz-funk legend’s touring and studio band. He became immersed a rich Manhattan music scene in which funk, soul and jazz stars were playing or recording somewhere locally every day of the week. ⠀ A couple of years later, Woo struck out on his own and wound up doing extensive session and performance work with Ashford & Simpson, Candi Staton, Patti Labelle, Graham Central Station’s Patryce “Choc’Let” Banks and later on Grover Washington Jr., George Howard, Jeffrey Osborne, Gladys Knight, Deborah Harry, Cyndi Lauper, Whitney Houston and the Four Tops, among many others. In 1980 he joined Maze and is featured on that group’s Live in New Orleans, We Are One and Back to Basics albums. In the late 1990s, Woo relocated to Tokyo where he has resided ever since, continuing to work constantly in a variety of musical capacities that includes joining groups like Tower of Power when they tour Asia and playing local club gigs weekly with a crack band covering the gamut of well-known and obscure soul, funk and jazz songs. ⠀ Sources: Funkstuff.net Roland.com . . . . . . . #PhilipWoo #keyboardist #royayersubiquity #maze #frankiebeverly #coldboldtogether #pianist #keyboard #piano #jazz #soul #jazz #funk #traktivist #chinese #chineseamerican #asianamerican #asianamericans #asianamerica #asianamericanmusic

Added 3 Apr 2026