Flip Phillips
Tenor Sax
About
Flip Phillips was a tenor saxophonist whose warm, powerful tone made him one of the commanding voices of the swing era. Born Joseph Edward Filippelli in Brooklyn, he rose to prominence as a featured soloist in Woody Herman's legendary First Herd from 1944 to 1946, contributing to landmark recordings like "Apple Honey" and "Caldonia." From 1946 to 1957 he was a star attraction of Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, and his incendiary 1947 Carnegie Hall performance of "Perdido" became one of JATP's most celebrated recordings. He won ten DownBeat polls as top tenor player between 1945 and 1954 and recorded with Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and countless others. After semi-retiring to Florida in the early 1960s, Phillips staged a remarkable comeback beginning in the 1970s and remained active into his eighties, recording his first major label album as a leader, Swing Is the Thing!, for Verve at age 85.
Trivia
Phillips played the same Selmer Balanced Action tenor saxophone from 1939 until his death in 2001 — over sixty years on one horn. His closest friend in music was trombonist Bill Harris, with whom he once staged an elaborate prank involving a department store mannequin dressed in a band uniform; they pretended it was jumping from a fifteenth-floor hotel window in Detroit, causing panic on the street below before tossing it out. During his semi-retirement in Florida he managed an apartment complex called Sea Haven and took up golf, which he said stood for "Go On Living, Flip."
Early Life
Born Joseph Edward Filippelli on March 26, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, Phillips anglicized his Italian surname for the stage. His musical journey began at twelve when his cousin Frank Reda, a saxophonist and clarinetist, gave him his first clarinet. Through the early 1930s he honed his skills playing in Brooklyn restaurant bands, starting at Schneider's Lobster House in 1934. He later studied saxophone with Pete Brown, an African American alto player who introduced him to trumpeter Frankie Newton. Phillips joined Newton's sextet at Kelly's Stable in Manhattan around 1940, becoming one of the first white musicians to perform regularly in an otherwise all-Black ensemble. He switched permanently to tenor saxophone around 1942, calling it "the happy medium of all horns."
Flip Phillips Solos
1952
Tenor Sax solo - Blue Moon - 1952
4/4 swing in A♭ major at 126 BPM
Tenor Sax solo - Blue Moon - 1952
4/4 swing in A♭ major at 128 BPM
Tenor Sax solo - I Only Have Eyes for You - 1952
4/4 swing in G major at 152 BPM
Tenor Sax solo - Everything I Have Is Yours - 1952
4/4 ballad in F major at 74 BPM