Flip Phillips born 26 March 1915

Joseph Edward Filippelli (March 26, 1915 – August 17, 2001), known professionally as Flip Phillips" was an American jazz tenor saxophone and clarinet player. He is best remembered for his work with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts from 1946 to 1957. For over 50 years was an excellent tenor saxophonist equally gifted on stomps, ballads, and standards. Phillips recorded an album for Verve when he was in his 80s. 

One of three children, Phillips was born in Brooklyn, back when names ending in vowels were disadvantageous in America. Thus Salvatore Massaro became Eddie Lang, Anthony Scaccia became Tony Scott, Joseph Firantello became Joe Farrell, Anthony Allessandrini became Tony Aless, Luigi Balassoni became Louis Bellson and Joseph Edward Fillipelli became Flip Phillips. 

Phillips began studying clarinet when his cousin Frank Reda (a saxophone and clarinet player) gave him one in 1927. He began his professional career playing in the band at Schneider's Lobster House in Brooklyn (1934-9) and with trumpeter Frankie Newton (1940-41). He only switched to the tenor saxophone in his late 20s. Headhunted by Herman shortly afterwards in 1944, he became known across the United States for his contributions to 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." 

When the pressure of being continuously on the road caused Herman to disband at the end of 1946, Phillips worked with small groups, often featuring another ex-Herman star in trombonist Bill Harris, and joined Norman Granz's Jazz At The Philharmonic for concerts and tours. (1946-57) At it’s 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. 

                             

An impresario who earned the respect of musicians, Granz paid well, and would not allow his outfit to perform before racially segregated audiences. The show's worldwide popularity, boosted by a series of concert recordings and trips to Europe, spread the word about Phillips, and helped him win polls in Downbeat and Metronome magazines. 

Phillips  recorded extensively for Clef in the 1940s and 1950s, including a 1949 album of small-group tracks under his leadership with Buddy Morrow, Tommy Turk, Kai Winding, Sonny Criss, Ray Brown, and Shelly Manne. Following the example of the swing era's saxophone pioneer, Coleman Hawkins, Phillips extracted from the tenor a rounded, breathy tone that never weakened, even as the notes rained down. Especially in the early days, slow ballads were the occasions for heartfelt rhapsodising. 

He accompanied Billie Holiday on her 1952 album Billie Holiday Sings. During this period, he often shared the stage with other top tenors in the Granz stable, 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. 

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 appeared at the Colorado Jazz Party (1970). He  rejoined Herman for a gig at the Newport festival (1972) and 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. 

He died in August 2001, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at the age of 86. 

(Edited from Guardian obit by Ronald Atkins, Jazztimes, Wikipedia & New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz)