Mike Wofford Day

February 28, 1938 – September 19, 2025

Click here if you have a memory of this artist that you’d like to share

–

Click here to Support Jazz on the Tube

Pianist Mike Wofford passed away on Sept. 19, 2025 at the age of 87.

He was born on Feb. 28, 1938 in San Antonio, Texas and grew up in San Diego.

Wofford began classical piano lessons when he was seven, playing jazz with local musicians starting when he was in high school.

He moved to Los Angeles, worked with Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All Stars beginning in 1959, played with Shorty Rogers, and is on Mel Torme’s 1962 hit album Comin’ Home Baby.

A fixture in Los Angeles for years, he recorded with Joe Pass (Joy Spring), James Moody, Tommy Vig, Shelly Manne, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra and as a leader (Strawberry Wine, Summer Night) in the 1960s; Wofford also worked on television scores and did studio work for pop artists including the Jackson 5, Joan Baez and John Lennon.

Mike Wofford, who moved permanently back to San Diego in the late 1970s, was always busy whether working with Quincy Jones, Zoot Sims, John Klemmer, Oliver Nelson and Sonny Stitt, as an accompanist for Sarah Vaughan (1979-83) and Ella Fitzgerald (1989-94), leading 16 albums, or playing in collaborations with flutist Holly Hofmann; they were married in 2000.

Here is Mike Wofford and Holly Hofmann playing an uptempo version of the Lee Morgan blues “Speedball” sometime around 2010.

-Scott Yanow

Click here if you have a memory of this artist that you’d like to share

–

Click here to Support Jazz on the Tube