10 January 2023
(Until 10 January)Flip Philips Sax from Swing to Stravinsky – Phantom Dancer
Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show
Flip Philips is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist in a broadcast from 1953 with Hank Jones (p/org) and Buddy Rich (d).
The Phantom Dancer is your weekly non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV every week.
You’ll also hear Louis Armstrong this week with a set from 1945 radio and a set of his 1920s small groups.
LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 10 January) and weeks of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/
FLIP
He never lost the knack. On his final recording, made as the new millennium approached, he easily held his own alongside two of today’s big names, with a rounded, breathy tone that never weakened.
PHILIPS
Between 1944-46 he starred in Herman’s First Herd.
Headhunted by Herman, he became known for his contributions to the songs, The Good Earth, Apple Honey, Northwest Passage and many more.
Few musicians in the band were influenced by the new bebop sounds, but Herman’s knack of commissioning such talented young composer/ arrangers as Neal Hefti and Ralph Burns got the First Herd recognised as being in step with postwar progress.
Igor Stravinsky was impressed enough to write his Ebony Concerto specifically for the Herd; the story goes that, at a rehearsal, Phillips, apparently not the quickest of sight-readers, was told by Stravinsky, “What you are playing is very nice, but what I have written is much better.”
During much of the next decade, he toured with Jazz At The Philharmonic (JATP), then at its peak as a high-profile roadshow, in which big-toned tenors were expected to egg the crowd on by indulging the instrument’s capacity to emit honks, squeals and earthshaking belches. One of the tunes used to bring the entertainment to a climax was Perdido, and a suitably rabble-rousing solo by Phillips, recorded at a JATP concert, linked the piece to him long after the event.
During this period, he often shared the stage with other top tenors, notably Lester Young and Ben Webster. They might have inspired his lighter touch on, respectively, blues and ballads, though Phillips was always able to adapt to his surroundings – with both Herman and JATP, he probably felt the need to blow at full throttle much of the time.
Here’s Flip Philips blowing at age 80
LATER
After joining Benny Goodman for a European tour in 1959, he decided to give up full-time playing. With his wife Sophia, he settled in Florida, making a living from non-musical jobs. He managed a beachside housing development and indulged his hobbies of golf and wood work. He also took up the bass clarinet.
But, by 1970, the jazz climate had altered in his favour. Bands were increasingly being formed by players of the past, and Phillips rejoined Herman for a gig at the Newport festival. He was a natural attraction at jazz parties run by wealthy aficionados.
The arrival of musicians whose styles harked back beyond bebop, let alone beyond John Coltrane, found Phillips joining Scott Hamilton on two-tenor dates. He often teamed up with guitarist Howard Alden, a fixture on the neo-swing scene.
Phillips thrived musically, showing he had lost nothing over the years, while adding the ease of expression that comes when you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. On his last record, made at the age of 84, he sounds ultra-relaxed in the company of Joe Lovano, himself a poll-winning tenor, and James Carter. (From All About Jazz).
Highly recommend this thoroughly researched history of Flip Philips http://www.jazzarcheology.com/artists/flip_phillips.pdf
10 JANUARY PLAY LIST
Play List – The Phantom Dancer | ||
107.3 2SER Tuesday 10 January 2023 | ||
Set 1 | Louis Armstrong | |
Ain’t Misbehavin’ | Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong | ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 |
Barrelhouse Bessie from Basin Street | Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong | ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 |
Peanut Vendor | Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong | ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 |
| Coquette | Louis Armstrong Orchestra (voc) Louis Armstrong | ‘Jubilee’ AFRS Hollywood 1945 |
Set 2 | Tito Puente Mambo King | |
Esy | Tito Puente Orchestra | Birdland WABC NYC 1953 |
Babarabatiri | Tito Puente Orchestra (voc) Vincent Chico Valdes | ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NYC 1953 |
Ron Kan Kan | Tito Puente Orchestra | ‘Symphony Sid Show’ Birdland WJZ ABC NYC 1953 |
Set 3 | Eddie Condon | |
I Found a New Baby | Eddie Condon Jazz Group | ‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944 |
What Is There to Say? | Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith | ‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944 |
Jazz Me Blues | Eddie Condon Jazz Group | ‘Eddie Condon Jazz Concert’ AFRS Re-broadcast 1944 |
Set 4 | Flip Philips | |
Three Little Words | Flip Philips (ts) Hank Jones (p/org) Buddy Rich (d) | Bandbox WMGM NYC (?) 19 Jan 1953 |
Carioca | Flip Philips (ts) Hank Jones (p/org) Buddy Rich (d) | Bandbox WMGM NYC (?) 19 Jan 1953 |
Sweet Lorraine | Flip Philips (ts) Hank Jones (p/org) Buddy Rich (d) | Bandbox WMGM NYC (?) 19 Jan 1953 |
Bugle Call Rag | Flip Philips (ts) Charlie Shavers (tp) Hank Jones (p/org) Buddy Rich (d) | Bandbox WMGM NYC (?) 19 Jan 1953 |
Set 5 | 1940s Women Swing Singers | |
Baby Boogie | Eliot Lawrence Orchestra (voc) Rosalind Patton | Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 2 Dec 1947 |
Hollywood Bowl | Tony Pastor Orchestra (voc) Rosemay & Betty Clooney, Tony Pastor | Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA Jun 1946 |
Beg Your Pardon | Harry James Orchestra (voc) Dinah Shore | ‘Dinah Shore Show’ KNX CBS LA 4 May 1948 |
You Turned the Tables on Me + But None Like You | Charlie Spivak Orchestra (voc) Irene Day & Tommy Mercer | Palladium Ballroom KNX CBS LA 7 Apr 1948 |
Set 6 | Louis Armstrong 1920s | |
That’s When I’ll Come Back To You | Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven (voc) Louis Armstrong & Lil Hardin | Comm Rec Chicago 13 May 1927 |
Savoyages’ Stomp | Caroll Dickenson’s Savoyagers | Comm Rec Chicago 5 Jul 1928 |
Too Busy | Louis Armstrong and his Hot Four (voc) Lillie Delk Christian | Comm Rec Chicago 26 Jun 1928 |
Basin Street Blues | Louis Armstrong and his Savoy Ballroom Five (voc) Earl Hines & Mancy Cara | Comm Rec Chicago 4 Dec 1928 |
Set 7 | Ella Fitzgerald | |
Open + Who Ya’ Hunchin’? | Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra | Savoy Ballroom WJZ NBC Blue NYC 26 Feb 1940 |
You Hit The Spot | Chick Webb Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald | Radio Transcription 1936 |
It’s a Blue World | Ella Fitzgerald Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald | Savoy Ballroom WJZ NBC Blue NYC 4 Mar 1940 |
Rhythm & Romance | Chick Webb Orchestra (voc) Ella Fitzgerald | Radio Transcription 1936 |
Set 8 | 1950s Big Band Radio | |
| Open + Dream a Little Dream of Me | Claude Thornhill Orchestra (voc) Patty Ryan | ‘One Night Stand’ Steel Pier Atlantic City NJ AFRS Re-broadcast 24 Aug 1955 |
| Limelight | Stan Kenton Orchestra | ‘Concert in Miniature’ Moonlight Gardens WLW NBC Cincinnati 26 Aug 1952 |
| Two O’Clock Jump | Harry James Orchestra | Hotel Astor Roof WCBS CBS NYC 25 May 1953 |
