Flip Phillips was a tenor saxophonist who came to the fore in the post-war era playing with the bands of Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Frankie Newton.

Born on 26 March 1915 in New York, Phillips started out playing clarinet in a Brooklyn restaurant during the 1930s, before becoming a celebrated saxophonist playing a variety of genres, including mainstream jazz, swing, and jump blues. He was perhaps most famously associated with Norman Granz’s Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts in the late 1940s and, in the early 1950s, he recorded a string of sessions for Norman Granz. Phillips can be heard leading groups that comprised many different line-ups, with most of the titles coming out a succession of albums on Granz’s Clef label during this era.

This 58-track  collection includes most of the titles he recorded for Granz at these sessions. The numbers are presented in the order and format they were released on the albums Flip Phillips Quartet, Flip Phillips Collates Vols.1 & 2, Jumping Moods, Flip Phillips & Buddy Rich Trio, Flip Phillips Quintet (Rock With Flip), and Flip Wails, Swingin’ With Flip Phillips and Flip. It features performances with some of the great names of the era, including: Oscar Peterson, Charlie Shavers, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Howard McGhee, Alvin Stoller, Buddy Rich, Hank Jones, Herb Ellis, Freddie Green and Max Roach. Plus, as a bonus, it includes a ‘live’ jam session version of Stompin’ At The Savoy Pt.1.

Phillips died in August 2001, in Florida, at the age of 86. This 3CD set offers a great showcase for Flip Phillips at probably the zenith of his career.

TRACKS