He learned to play the guitar quite literally in the living-room of the legendary Reverend Gary Davis, where he imbibed the blues of the grand old man. Until his death in 1972, Davis remained both an inspiration and a friend to Woody Mann. The blues were also the cornerstone to Mann's own career, and it was the blues that brought him together with musicians of the stamp of guitarist John Fahey, vocalist Jo-Ann Kelly and the veterans Bukka White and Son House. Years later, Woody plunged into the world of jazz and started studying with the famous pianist Lennie Tristano. He has since woven his roots in ragtime, in blues and in jazz to a highly developed personal language that cannot be easily categorized. "If there was such a category as simply 'great music', Woody's music would no doubt belong to it," says John Fahey. The American guitar player had a single word to describe Mann's CD "Stairwell Serenade": phenomenal!