Flip Phillips
Tenor Sax Solo on
Blue Moon

About

Flip Phillips's quarter-chorus tenor saxophone solo is the third and final solo on this reading of the Rodgers and Hart standard. Phillips continues his solo with the last A section after Charlie Shavers plays over the bridge. At 128 BPM in A-flat, Phillips's return completes the split-chorus arrangement, his warm tenor bringing the instrumental interlude to a close before Holiday resumes her vocal. The interlocking format between Phillips and Shavers gives the brief solo section an architectural quality unusual in such a compact performance.

Flip Phillips was 36 to 37 years old at the time.