{"id":240896,"date":"2025-09-20T07:21:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T07:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240896\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T07:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T07:21:22","slug":"mike-wofford-dead-at-87-was-pianist-of-choice-for-jazz-and-pop-greats-alike-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/240896\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Wofford, dead at 87, was pianist of choice for jazz and pop greats alike \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a career that stretched across seven decades, Mike Wofford provided exactly the right touch on piano in any and every musical setting. His death Friday morning just after midnight, silences an exemplary artist who performed weekly until earlier this summer. He was 87.<\/p>\n

A San Diego resident since he was a child, the Texas-born keyboard master collaborated with such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Charlie Haden and Oliver Nelson. He earned international acclaim traveling the world as the pianist and musical director for vocal legends Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.<\/p>\n

A musician for all seasons, Wofford was equally adept performing with such Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees as John Lennon, James Brown, B.B. King, Roger McGuinn, Joan Baez, The Four Tops, Cher, Donna Summer, The Ventures and Dion. He also collaborated with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and was featured on an array of film and TV soundtracks, from \u201cThe Godfather Part II\u201d and \u201cSweet Charity\u201d to \u201cHawaii Five-0\u201d and \u201cThe Bill Cosby Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Piano great Mike Wofford to shine in two all-star concerts here in same week<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMike was one of the greatest pianists on the planet, without a doubt,\u201d said bass great Bob Magnusson, who \u2014 like Wofford \u2014 is a San Diego Music Hall of Fame honoree. \u201cHe was such a versatile artist and a brilliant person with a very dry sense of humor. And Mike always did everything with such kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wofford was held in similarly high regard by veteran San Diego jazz drummer and vibraphonist Jim Plank and by La Jolla Athenaeum jazz programming coordinator Daniel Atkinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was the most special musician I\u2019ve ever played with,\u201d said Plank, a retired Diego Symphony percussionist, who started playing gigs with Wofford here as a teenager in 1958. \u201cOne of the most remarkable things about Mike was that his expressive range was so broad. I never ceased to be amazed by the depth of his musical knowledge and abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMike had an encyclopedic command of the full spectrum of jazz,\u201d Atkinson agreed. \u201cHe knew an incredible amount about the whole history of the music. And he was revered quite widely \u2014 and deservedly \u2014 as a musician\u2019s musician, which in many ways is the highest status of all. That said, although he was so talented and versatile, what really stuck out about Mike was his modesty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, although he was a noted composer who made more than 20 solo albums and played on many more by other artists, Wofford was self-effacing to a fault.<\/p>\n

Or, as he put it in a 2023 Union-Tribune interview prior to his induction into the San Diego Music Hall of Fame: \u201cWhat I try to bring to every gig I do, no matter the style of music, is honesty, and making the music as good as it can be, whether it\u2019s jazz piano or anything else. I was never a really highly technical player and I never thought of (playing music) in terms of flash. I try to concentrate on keeping things really clear and interesting for a listener, rather than playing flashy. As a young pianist, I learned fairly quickly that less is more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Respect! These are the artists who will be honored at the fifth annual San Diego Music Hall of Fame inductions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wofford died in the Balboa Park-area home he shared with his wife and longtime musical partner, flutist Holly Hofmann. He had been receiving hospice care there for the past two weeks. The cause of death, Hofmann said, was complications from hyponatremia, a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood is too low.<\/p>\n

\"NationallyNationally acclaimed San Diego pianist Mike Wofford, at right, has died at the age of 87. He is shown here with his wife, flutist Holly Hofmann in 2011. (John Gastaldo \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nSan Antonio to San Diego<\/p>\n

Mike Wofford was born in San Antonio on Feb. 28, 1938. He moved to San Diego with his mother, a gifted singer, when he was 5 and began taking classical piano lessons when he was 7. His favorite composers in his youth included Bartok, Stravinsky, Hindemith and John Cage. He was also a big fan of Art Tatum, the blind piano giant who set a new standard for keyboard mastery and improvisational ingenuity.<\/p>\n

A precocious piano wiz, Wofford embraced jazz as a sophomore at Point Loma High School. He played in area bands with such fellow teen jazz standouts as drummer John Guerin, trumpeter Don Sleet and saxophonist Gary Lefebvre. When Wofford was 19, the San Diego Symphony performed two of his compositions, which he had written when he was 14 and 18, respectively.<\/p>\n

His tenure as a music major lasted just one semester at San Diego State College (as SDSU was then known).<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not a very devoted student,\u201d Wofford said in a 2009 Union-Tribune interview. \u201cSan Diego was a great jazz town in the 1950s. There were so many clubs and so much work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1959, Wofford accepted an invitation to join veteran bassist Howard Rumsey\u2019s Redondo Beach-based band, the Lighthouse All Stars. He moved to Los Angeles a few years later and, in 1962, was featured as the pianist on vocal star Mel Torme\u2019s classic 1962 album, \u201cComin\u2019 Home Baby!\u201d Its title track was later cited by English rock legend Steve Winwood as the key inspiration for Winwood\u2019s hit song \u201cI\u2019m a Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wofford\u2019s first solo album, \u201cStrawberry Wine,\u201d was released in 1966 and received critical praise. After countless recording sessions in L.A. and a healthy amount of touring with various top-tier artists, he moved back to San Diego in the second half of the 1970s. He continued to record prolifically on his own and with other artists. In the late 1980s, he became Ella Fitzgerald\u2019s pianist and musical director.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike is a very fine pianist,\u201d Fitzgerald told the Union-Tribune backstage at the 1990 Grammy Awards.<\/p>\n

Wofford is very likely the only pianist who played with both Fitzgerald and cutting-edge trombonist and electronic music innovator George Lewis, as well as with Sergio Mendes and Quincy Jones, James Moody and Harry Nilsson, Zoot Simms and John Klemmer. Wofford also stood out as a composer of unusual grace and subtlety, although he could kick into high gear and drive a piece of music, or a band, with the flick of his very supple wrists.<\/p>\n

Despite his many accomplishments, this remarkably eclectic pianist was quick ti downplay his talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m my own worst critic,\u201d he admitted in his 2009 Union-Tribune interview. \u201cWith most of my recordings, I can\u2019t really listen to them for enjoyment until five or 10 years go by. You can listen more objectively at that point\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI once overheard Zoot Sims, the great saxophonist, say: \u2018If you\u2019re not playing (music) for yourself, you\u2019re not playing for anyone.\u2019 It\u2019s not always easy to live up to that, particularly in a non-jazz situation. But it is something I strive for more and more in my later years. Jazz truly is an ongoing lifelong search.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wofford married flutist Hofmann in 2000 and they toured together and recorded a 2006 duo album together at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla. Their chemistry together was equally palpable on stage and off.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike was, without doubt, the most featured artist in the 36 years of the series,\u201d said Athenaeum jazz concert honcho Atkinson. \u201cHe played the second concert in our series in 1989 and most recently played for us in 2022. He was always the guy you wanted to have on your stage, and he and Holly were our audience favorites.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Friday morning text to this writer, Hofmann summed up Wofford\u2019s artistry in seven words. \u201cMike\u2019s humanity was exuded in his music,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

In addition to Hofmann, Wofford is survived by his daughter, Melissa Wofford; sons Christopher and Michael Wofford Jr., seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. No memorial service will be held (\u201cMike wanted a party with his friends,\u201d Hofmann said). Donations can be made in his name to the American Civil Liberties Union.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 19, 2025 at 4:25 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a career that stretched across seven decades, Mike Wofford provided exactly the right touch on piano in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":240897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,171,5424,3549,3550,7264,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-240896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-music-and-concerts","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-things-to-do","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115235421359931470","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}