Woodenhead is a unique prog rock/jazz quartet with a couple shakes of New Orleans funk and R&B thrown in, put together in 1975 by Loyola University music students who were inspired by groups like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever. After a few early personnel changes, the group’s membership stabilized to include founder and virtuosic guitarist Jimmy Robinson, pianist Fran Comiskey, bassist Paul Clement, and drummer Mark Whittaker. The group celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2025, closing out the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s Fais Do Do Stage to raucous acclaim. The talented quartet has toured the world, can sometimes be found with the Bonerama Horns and other guest artists, and has opened for the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Spyrogyra, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea’s Elektrik Band ,the Dixie Dregs, Hugh Masakela, Johnny Winter, The Neville Brothers, Allen Holdsworth, and Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Notable tunes from their substantial repertoire include “Water From The Moon,” Comiskey’s signature composition for the band, and “Dance # 1,” originally written by Jimmy Robinson for a musician/choreographer collaboration commissioned by The New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, and later transmogrified into a rollicking bar anthem.