Gene Phillips born 25 July 1915

Gene Phillips (25 July 1915- 10 January 1990) was a West Coast session stalwart who appeared on a myriad of jump blues waxings during the late '40s and early '50s. Singer/guitarist Phillips was a mainstay of Modern Records during the label's formative years, his Louis Jordan-like jumpin' R&B giving the label many of its earliest best sellers. 

Eugene Floyd "Gene" Phillips was born in St. Louis, Missouri on May 25, 1915. According to his Social Security record, his mother was Lillie Zomphier and his father was Clyde Phillips. Phillips learned to play ukulele and switched to guitar at the age of 11, after which he began playing and singing for tips and graduated through several obscure local bands. Between 1941 and 1943, he played guitar behind the Mills Brothers, relocating with them to Los Angeles, and later worked and recorded with Lorenzo Flennoy, Wynonie Harris, Johnny Otis and Jack McVea. 

Phillips was one of the first important artists to be signed by the fledgling Modern Music Company back in 1946, and probably ranks as the label's second-most important early signing behind Hadda Brooks. Even though he was only signed to the label as an artist for 3-4 years, he enjoyed a lengthy subsequent association with the Bihari brothers' West Coast R&B indie as a sideman. Any serious collector of the Bihari brothers' budget-priced Crown albums should be intimately familiar with Phillips's LP -- it's one of the best Crown acquisitions you can possibly make (especially since there's no CD equivalent yet). 

                                   

Phillips, Charlie Christian & T-Bone Walker inspired guitar and jump-blues shouting began to be featured on his own recordings supported by west coast stalwarts such as Maxwell Davis and Jack McVea. His often-ribald jump blues gems for the firm included "Big Legs," "Fatso," "Rock Bottom," "Hey Now," and a version of Big Bill Broonzy's witty standard "Just a Dream." Phillips's bandmates were among the royalty of the L.A. scene: trumpeter Jake Porter, saxists Marshall Royal, Maxwell Davis, and Jack McVea, and pianist Lloyd Glenn were frequently on hand. Phillips returned the favor in Porter's case, singing and playing on the trumpeter's 1947 dates for Imperial. 

Phillips" later records for RPM, Imperial Records, Exclusive, Federal (with Preston Love) and Combo, were successful locally and he spent the 50s doing extensive session work with artists such as Percy Mayfield, who played on "Please Send Me Someone To Love" and Amos Milburn. After a 78 of his own for Imperial in 1951 ("She's Fit 'n Fat 'n Fine"), Phillips bowed out of the recording wars as a leader with a solitary 1954 effort for Combo, "Fish Man," backed by McVea's band. It has recently been established that he played on the Oscar McLollie sessions from 1954 and indeed he may well have continued his relationship with Modern beyond then. 

In July 1957 Phillips was in Minneapolis playing with pianist Meade Lux Lewis, at the Gay 90s. The last time we hear of Gene Phillips, the entertainer, was in a California Eagle column on February 20, 1958. He was part of the cast of "Simply Heavenly", a musical comedy at L.A.'s Carmel Theater. Also in the cast was Helen Humes, Spencer Williams, and Fletcher Smith. At some point, heavy drinking had become a feature of his lifestyle and Gene became a junk man, having his own junkyard and presumably giving up music. 

The late Jake Porter of Combo Records, who played trumpet on most of Phillips' Modern recordings, said that the drinking and general health problems later in life cannot have helped in any way the onset of diabetes. Writer and historian Jim Dawson and Jake Potter visited Gene in his junkyard on South Central, Los Angeles in the late 80’s.

When we arrived Jake said "stay in the car, I'll go get him because you might catch something". Jake hollered "Come out Gene, somebody wants to talk with you". About five minutes later Gene appeared down the alley, patting dust off his clothes and pulling up his trousers. He had a mop of grey hair that hadn't been cut for a long time. Jake whispered in my ear "He's suffering from dementia, you won't get a lot out of him." Phillips looked a sorry state, was slow talking and quietly spoken, but he did answer my questions, and even went back and got his lap steel guitar to show me. A few years later I heard he'd passed away. Sadly I didn't see any obituaries.”

Eugene Floyd Phillips died, in Los Angeles, on January 10, 1990. 

(Edited from Answers.com, Ace Records liner notes, All Music & Unca Marvy)