Flip Phillips

Biography

Flip Phillips (born Joseph Edward Filippelli on March 26, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist best known for his powerhouse work in Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concert tours between 1946 and 1957.[2][3][6][8] Growing up in Brooklyn in an Italian American family, he began on clarinet after a relative gave him the instrument, and by the mid‑1930s he was playing in a restaurant band at Schneider’s Lobster House in Brooklyn.[1][3][5] In the late 1930s and early 1940s he worked with trumpeter Frankie Newton, then moved through bands led by Red Norvo, Wingy Manone and Benny Goodman, gradually shifting from clarinet and alto to tenor saxophone in his late twenties, where he found his true voice.[1][2][3][5]

Phillips first came to wide national attention as a regular soloist with Woody Herman’s “First Herd” in the mid‑1940s, where his robust, swinging tenor helped define hits such as “The Good Earth” and “Apple Honey.”[1][3][5] After Herman disbanded in 1946, Phillips formed small groups, often featuring trombonist Bill Harris, and became a star of Jazz at the Philharmonic, where his big‑toned, crowd‑pleasing tenor solos—particularly on the jam‑session staple “Perdido”—made him a favorite with audiences across the U.S. and Europe.[1][3][5][8] He recorded extensively for Clef in the 1940s and 1950s, appeared on Billie Holiday’s 1952 album Billie Holiday Sings, and performed alongside leading contemporaries such as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Ben Webster and Illinois Jacquet in the JATP stable.[1][3] Stylistically, Phillips was rooted in swing and mainstream jazz but could also handle jump blues; his sound drew on the rounded, breathy tenor approach of Coleman Hawkins while incorporating a lighter, more relaxed feel reminiscent of Lester Young, and he was equally at home on fiery up‑tempo numbers and rhapsodic ballads.[1][3]

In 1959, after touring Europe with Benny Goodman, Phillips largely withdrew from full‑time performance, settling in Florida with his wife Sophia and working in non‑musical jobs while pursuing hobbies such as golf and woodworking, and even taking up the bass clarinet.[1][3][7] After roughly 15 years away from the national spotlight, he returned to active performance in the 1970s just as a revival of swing‑based jazz was underway, collaborating with younger traditionalists such as tenor saxophonist Scott Hamilton and guitarist Howard Alden and demonstrating that his technical facility and expressive warmth had not dimmed.[1][3] Remarkably, he continued recording and touring into his eighties, cutting albums for labels including Verve late in life and appearing on sessions with modern tenor voices like Joe Lovano and James Carter that showcased his relaxed, authoritative late style.[1][3] Phillips died on August 17, 2001, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, leaving a legacy as one of the last great swing‑era tenor saxophone stars whose career bridged big‑band swing, early bop, mainstream jazz and the later neo‑swing revival.[2][3][7]

Fun Facts

• Phillips’s cousin, a saxophone and clarinet player, gave him his first clarinet in the late 1920s; from that point on, he later said he would rather play music than eat.[1][4]
• Although he is remembered as a tenor saxophonist, Phillips did not switch fully to tenor until his late twenties, having started out on clarinet and then alto saxophone in his youth.[1][4][5]
• At the height of Jazz at the Philharmonic’s popularity, Phillips’s exuberant, honking solo on ‘Perdido’ became so famous that the tune remained closely associated with him for decades.[1][3][8]
• After largely retiring from full‑time music in 1959, he managed a beachside housing development in Florida and devoted considerable time to golf and woodworking before making a successful comeback in his seventies and eighties.[1][3][7]

Associated Acts

• Flip Phillips Sextet - eponymous, original
• Bill Harris and His Septet
• Flip Phillips and His Hiptet - eponymous, original
• Flip Phillips and His Orchestra - eponymous, original
• Flip Phillips Boptet - eponymous, original
• Flip Phillips Fliptet - eponymous, original
• Flip Phillips Quartet - eponymous, original
• The Flip Phillips Quintet - eponymous, original
• Red Norvo & His Selected Sextet
• Charlie Parker Big Band
• Red Norvo All-Stars

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Coleman Hawkins - Principal tenor‑sax role model from the swing era; Phillips shaped his own big, rounded tone and harmonic approach in Hawkins’s pioneering tenor tradition while retaining his own voice. (General influence evident in Phillips’s Clef recordings and JATP performances rather than specific documented collaborations.) [Influence crystallized in the 1940s and 1950s as Phillips emerged as a leading swing and JATP tenor.[1][3]]
• Lester Young - Stylistic influence on Phillips’s lighter, more relaxed phrasing; contemporary critics and later writers often noted that Phillips leaned more toward Young’s buoyant, flowing lines than Hawkins’s gruff attack. (Influence heard particularly in Phillips’s ballad playing and more melodic up‑tempo work on 1940s–1950s small‑group and JATP recordings.) [Primarily 1940s–1950s, during Phillips’s peak JATP years when he frequently appeared on bills with Young.[1][3]]

Key Collaborators

• Woody Herman - Bandleader; Phillips was a featured tenor saxophone soloist in Herman’s ‘First Herd,’ contributing key solos on important big‑band recordings. (Notable titles include ‘The Good Earth,’ ‘Apple Honey,’ and ‘Northwest Passage,’ along with other mid‑1940s Herman sides.[1][5]) [Circa 1944–1946, during Herman’s first great band.[1][5]]
• Norman Granz / Jazz at the Philharmonic - Producer and impresario; Phillips was a star soloist on Granz’s JATP tours, engaging in cutting contests and high‑energy jam sessions that made him widely famous. (Numerous live JATP recordings including versions of ‘Perdido’ that became closely identified with Phillips’s rousing tenor solos.[1][2][3][8]) [1946–1957, Phillips’s main JATP period.[1][2][3]]
• Bill Harris - Trombonist and frequent small‑group partner; another ex‑Woody Herman star who often joined Phillips in post‑Herman combos. (1949 small‑group Clef sessions under Phillips’s leadership and other late‑1940s–early‑1950s recordings pairing tenor and trombone.[1][3]) [Late 1940s to early 1950s.[1][3]]
• Billie Holiday - Vocal collaborator; Phillips provided tenor/clarinet accompaniment on one of Holiday’s early 1950s studio albums. (Album Billie Holiday Sings (1952), on which Phillips is listed as a featured instrumentalist.[1][3]) [1952 studio sessions.[1][3]]
• Benny Goodman - Bandleader; Phillips worked in Goodman’s band and later toured Europe with him, reinforcing his reputation beyond the U.S. (European tour performances in 1959 with Goodman’s group, documented in contemporary accounts and discographies.[1][2][3][7]) [Originally early 1940s band work; major documented collaboration on the 1959 European tour.[1][2][3]]
• Scott Hamilton - Younger tenor saxophonist; Phillips partnered with Hamilton on two‑tenor dates during the swing revival, symbolically linking generations. (Two‑tenor small‑group sessions and club dates in the late 1970s–1980s neo‑swing scene.[1]) [Late 1970s through 1980s, during Phillips’s post‑retirement comeback.[1][3]]
• Howard Alden - Guitarist; regular collaborator in Phillips’s later years, especially on swing‑oriented club dates and recordings. (Various small‑group albums and performances on the neo‑swing circuit, often pairing Alden’s guitar with Phillips’s tenor.[1]) [Primarily 1980s–1990s.[1][3]]
• Joe Lovano and James Carter - Modern tenor saxophonists who appeared with Phillips on his last recording, illustrating cross‑generational collaboration. (Phillips’s final album, recorded when he was 84, featuring Lovano and Carter as fellow saxophone soloists.[1][3]) [Circa 1999–2000, near the end of Phillips’s career.[1][3]]

Artists Influenced

• Scott Hamilton - Leading figure in the 1970s–1980s swing revival whose own mainstream tenor style drew on swing‑era models like Phillips; their later collaborations underscored Hamilton’s debt to the earlier generation. (Collaborative two‑tenor dates and recordings where Hamilton explicitly aligned himself with the Flip Phillips swing tradition.[1][3]) [Hamilton’s career from the mid‑1970s onward, with most direct interaction in the 1980s.[1][3]]
• Joe Lovano - Modern mainstream/avant‑leaning tenor saxophonist who honored Phillips by recording with him late in Phillips’s life, reflecting Phillips’s stature among later tenor players. (Participation on Phillips’s final album, where Lovano joins him in a multi‑tenor lineup.[1][3]) [Around 1999–2000 session period.[1][3]]
• James Carter - Virtuosic contemporary saxophonist who appeared with Phillips on his last recording, signaling appreciation for Phillips’s swing and JATP legacy. (Guest appearance on Phillips’s last album alongside Joe Lovano.[1][3]) [Circa 1999–2000.[1][3]]

Discography

Top Tracks

1. Flip and Jazz, Part 1 (WNEW Saturday Night Swing Session, Vol. 1)
2. Flip and Jazz, Part 2 (WNEW Saturday Night Swing Session, Vol. 1)
3. How High the Moon (WNEW Saturday Night Swing Session, Vol. 1)
4. Lover (WNEW Saturday Night Swing Session, Vol. 1)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia
• MusicBrainz

Tags: #bebop, #jazz, #swing