Biography
Born in Quinton, a suburb of Birmingham England, on June 24, 1944, Christopher Gordon Blandford Wood was the first born Child of Stephen and Muriel Wood. Three years later his sister Stephanie was born, completing the family. By the time Chris was nine years old the Woods moved to Corngreaves Hall, a huge, near mansion in Cradley Heath, provided as part of his father’s salary (Stephen Wood worked as Borough Surveyor and planner for the County). Surrounded by the working class world of the Midlands ‘Black Country’, the house and the heavily wooded grounds of Corngreaves Hall was an environment to inspire the imagination.
Living out what seemed to be an idyllic childhood, the children had many indulgences: trips to the Cornwall coast for vacation, a pony for Stephanie, an expensive ‘walkie talkie’ set for Chris, and nearly unlimited freedom for any creative endeavor. It was in this context that Chris grew up: a bright, creative, curious, and extremely sensitive boy, with intense crystalline blue eyes and a smile that gave joy to recipients of his attention.
But Chris’s sensitivity is a two edged sword. The creativity and raw talent in the arts inextricably commingled with a vague unease, deep seated self doubt, and a nagging need to sometimes delve into the dark side. From a very young age he was deeply interested in the unknown – the spirit world and ghosts in particular, but in many other areas as well such as ‘Ley Lines’, the supposed alignments that are thought to connect mystical places across the English countryside. Often preoccupied by these ideas to the exclusion of more practical concerns, his curious nature carried him into many exciting adventures but also led to experiences with alcohol and drugs that would ultimately shorten his life.
In his youth, Chris’s friends saw the potential for extraordinary careers in several paths. Hugh Frasier, a British film / TV actor (Patriot Games, co-starred in the much acclaimed Poiret series on British TV ), thought that Chris could have written and acted on stage and screen. Others emphasized that his comedic skills were on the same path as the type of humor that would later appear in Monty Python. He went to Art School seemingly almost by accident, and yet showed such skill that a fellow artist compared his paintings to work that the renowned abstract artist Willem DeKooning’s did in the ‘70’s – although Chris did it a decade earlier. Ultimately he would progress through three schools – the first being the Stourbridge College of Art, then the Birmingham College of Art, and finally to the Royal Academy in London. Along the way he discovered that he had other talents as well. While in art school he took up the flute, and then the saxophone out of a love of modern jazz just as the rock era was beginning to ascend in popularity.
His first bands were local affairs, the first being the Steve Hadley Quartet (1962) – a jazz/blues group, and then The Sounds Of Blue (1964), which played R&B, blues and some current rock hits. By early 1966 Chris was now in a more successful jazz group – Locomotive, and hanging around a Birmingham club know as the “Elbow Room.’ Here he would make friends with similarly adventurous musicians who would eventually go on to form the nucleus of a new group that would be known as ‘Traffic.’ Heavily influenced by the Beatles, but also by modern jazz, English folk, and what would later be called ‘World Music’, Traffic was one of the first to realize and fully embrace the possibilities that the eclectic 1960’s presented. A popular group, but perhaps more importantly, Traffic was admired by their peers as innovators and producers of genuinely exciting and original music.
That Traffic existed at all was a kind of miracle. To form this group Steve Winwood, a widely acknowledged musical genius of the keyboard, did something unprecedented and seemingly irrational. At the age of only 18, he abandoned the Spencer Davis Group, a band at the height of their popularity. Regardless of two very recent hit records (‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and ‘I’m A Man’), Winwood left them to form Traffic – a band of virtual unknowns. The improbable and somewhat motley crew consisted of: Jim Capaldi, a gruff but amiable soul singer turned drummer and psychedelic songwriter. Dave Mason, a budding guitar player whose most recent job had been that of a hardworking ‘roadie’ - moving amplifiers and gear for the Spencer Davis Group; and finally Chris – at the time an introverted but very wickedly funny ex-art school student and self-taught musician. Playing tenor saxophone and flute, Chris had by now evolved into a free flowing fountain of musical invention, as well as a guy who intuitively knew how to identify and remove any trace of “bullshit” (as Jim Capaldi noted) from whatever sounds were being made.
Officially formed in the early spring of 1967, Traffic came into being as musical styles were changing on a seemingly weekly basis. Tempting fate, the odd aggregation of characters went a step farther out on the limb. Winwood announced that the new group would be retreating to a rural house - a ‘cottage’ deep in the British countryside – to “study music” for six months before presenting themselves to the outside world. True to his word, that Fall the new band emerged from its chrysalis – a psychedelic butterfly, light years advanced beyond Spencer Davis’s formulaic R&B. Traffic had been born fully grown with its own sound – a complex mixture of influences that melded into something new and intoxicatingly unique – a band like no other in the land. Instantly achieving success and fame, they rapidly rose very near to the top of the rock aristocracy in a single stroke (Their first single, ‘Paper Sun’ reached #5 on the British musical charts). From there the legend of the origin of Traffic’s music took root. Like the other side of Robert Johnson’s supposed ‘deal with the Devil’ for his guitar prowess, Traffic’s special gift was said to have come about through having tapped into a mysterious and powerful energy in a house in the countryside of the rural Berkshire Downs. Something in that place was said to have imbued this group with a special feel – a mystical, and yes, seemingly magical touch that pervaded the music.
As time went by, more and more the word started to slip out about the goings on out at ‘the Cottage’ – rumors of acid-drenched outdoor jam sessions colored with psychedelic lights that lasted all night, hashish reveries centered around listening to records of all kinds, midnight visitations to ancient stone monoliths, and séances where the table leapt and danced. As for the music, it came from the jams, and sometimes whole cloth from vivid dreams – hastily written out and recorded right there at the cottage to best capture the vibe. Then there were the tales about the house itself, a two hundred year old farmhouse – a place literally out of the past, with no running water or electricity when they first moved in. A creaky dwelling, the Berkshire Cottage was soon professed (by at least some of the band members) to be haunted by the ghost. Even by rock ‘n roll standards the stories about the goings on at the Cottage were off the chart.
But it was all true.
Finally out in public, Traffic kept their mystique intact by mostly keeping their mouths shut and playing music. Described by drummer Capaldi as a ‘band of introverts’, they simply let the music do the talking. It was a captivating, intimate, yet powerful sound – Winwood’s forceful vocals imbued nearly any lyric with emotion, swooping from a shattering tenor to a whispered cry. His primary musical instrument – the Hammond organ, provided a rich, swelling, often church-like tone to the music. Capaldi kept the band moving with an idiosyncratic shuffle beat, modeled after his hero, Al Jackson, the drummer from Booker T and the MG’s. Dave Mason’s guitar skills threw a fiery arc into songs, while on top of it all Chris Wood’s flute fluttered like a bird skittering across a meadow, bringing out a gentle, deeply affecting side to the music.
From there it was a whirlwind of constant change. Traffic quickly became famous worldwide, had huge hit songs (Dear Mr. Fantasy, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys), was loved by a loyal audience, made friends with Dylan, Jagger and Hendrix and McCartney, toured two continents repeatedly, recorded great albums, grew, evolved, became immersed in the drug culture, lost members, added members, broke up, reformed, and finally fell to pieces – all in the span of seven years. In this concentrated lifetime of adventure, the core band of Winwood, Wood and Capaldi (Mason left in ’68) took the full ride on the rock ‘n roll roller coaster straight through the heart of the era. In the early 70’s he also married the love of his life, Jeanette Jacobs to whom he was totally devoted.
After Traffic, Mason, Capaldi and especially Steve Winwood went on to have solo careers as well as staking claims to Traffic’s legacy (and fans) by always playing the classic songs in their respective concerts.
Chris never shared in the extended glory. Crushed by his experiences in the life of rock ‘n roll, he dropped almost completely from the public eye – for good. If lucky, you might have caught him in a rare jam session in a club in London in 1977, heard intriguing reports of classical/jazz tracks being recorded, or studio sessions with South American musicians. These bouts of exciting music aside, most of the rumors dealt with problems with drink, drugs and sadly these were also true.
But the story of Chris’s after-fame life is just as compelling as what had come before. Struggling to complete his solo album through severe drug problems and the loss of close friends (like Free’s Paul Kossoff, and former band-mate Rebop Kwaku Baah), Chris never really recovered from first the separation from, then death of his wife, Jeanette. Through it all Chris never gave up, plowing through his pain, still trying to understand the meaning of life, and make music that reflected his inner being. When he died in Birmingham England on July 12, 1983, from liver disease, Chris’s long worked on album, thought to be entitled Vulcan remained unreleased. Through the efforts of his family and friends, a CD of the same name was finally released on October 27, 2008 – allowing fans, at long last, to share at least a little of the magic of Chris Wood.