[Drummer Sam Woodyard] was one of three heroes whose performance lifted an exhausted audience around two o'clock in the morning at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, when policemen were stalking, stomping, and threatening a curfew two hours too late. George Wein was walking up and down in front of the stage, walking in time to the music, with his face serious on the police side and smiling on our side. Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Woode, and Sam Woodyard lifted that stone-cold audience up to a fiery, frenzied, screeching, dancing climax that was never to be forgotten. One lovely society matron broke through her veneer of discretion, and jumped her thing for all twenty-seven choruses, adding a cherry and whipped cream topping to our sundae morning. << less