Muriel Wood signed up her son for piano and flute lessons, but he didn’t stick at them. Their father’s record collection encompassed Bing Crosby, big bands and Beethoven, and their mother had a piano under the stairs. And from the ages of nine and six respectively, they grew up in gothic splendour at Corngreaves Hall, a stately Georgian pile located in the heart of the Black Country, where their father was billeted as chief engineer of the borough. Sister Stephanie arrived three years later. Late-60s Traffic: (l-r) Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Dave Mason (Image credit: Getty Images)Ĭhris Wood was a war baby, born in the suburbs of Birmingham in 1944 to parents Stephen, a civil engineer, and Muriel Wood. Each band member was a virtuoso in his own right, but Winwood was the shining star, with Wood like a lighting conductor for his restless energy. In their relatively short, turbulent time together, Traffic roamed far and wide, their music encompassing pop whimsy, psychedelia, bucolic folk and a refined melange of rock, jazz and R&B. Wood, who excelled on sax and flute and was proficient on piano, bass and guitar, was a founding member of Traffic in 1967, along with Steve Winwood, drummer Jim Capaldi and guitarist Dave Mason. Yet it was as a multi-instrumentalist with Traffic that Wood soared highest, unshackled to ride the flow of that band’s often wondrous music. Among those he played with were his friend Jimi Hendrix, Free, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Ginger Baker and Dr John. A classic foil and sideman, Wood’s gift was to add colour to the landscapes of other people’s recordings, and in so doing give them dimension and defining features. The musical legacy Wood left behind stretches across three decades, through numerous collectives, and is imprinted upon a handful of dazzling albums. Within weeks of the session he was dead, aged just 39, his ravaged body and a broken heart having given up on him. The piece was meant to soundtrack, of all things, BBC TV’s coverage of live basketball, although Wood never did hear it aired.

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