Billy Phipps is an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 baritone saxophonist

Baritone saxophone

The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who has contributed to the development of a wide range of jazz styles including hard bop

Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...

, soul jazz

Soul jazz

Soul jazz is a development of jazz incorporating strong influences from blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often an organ trio featuring a Hammond organ.- Overview :Soul jazz is often associated with hard bop. Mark C...

, Latin jazz

Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...

, and primitive.

Career

Phipps was born on December 25, 1931 in Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

, USA into a jazz family. Phipp's cousin, Eugene Phipps, Sr. traveled with Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

, Joe Guy, Max Roach

Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...

 and Ike Quebec

Ike Quebec

Ike Quebec was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. His surname is pronounced KYOO-bek.Critic Alex Henderson wrote, "Though he was never an innovator, Quebec had a big, breathy sound that was distinctive and easily recognizable, and he was quite consistent when it came to down-home blues, sexy...

 on a national tour. Cousin Ernie Phipps led the big band The Marlarks of Rhythm with Eugene Phipps, Sr. at the Savoy Ballroom

Savoy Ballroom

The Savoy Ballroom, located in Harlem, New York City, was a medium sized ballroom for music and public dancing that was in operation from March 12, 1926 to July 10, 1958. It was located between 140th and 141st Streets on Lenox Avenue....

 along with The Sultans of Swing, Poncho Diggs, and other big bands. During the 1950s Eugene Phipps co-led the house band at Newark's legendary Washington Bar, which featured performers such as Babs Gonzales

Babs Gonzales

Babs Gonzales , born Lee Brown, was an American jazz vocalist of the bebop era most notable for penning the song "Oop-Pop-A-Da", which was originally recorded and performed by his own band and was later made famous by Dizzy Gillespie . Babs was also once the chauffeur for Errol Flynn...

, Lew-Rew Jordan, and Ike Quebec.

In the 1950s Billy Phipps along with brother Nat Phipps formed a band whose members included Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...

, Grachan Moncur, Chris White, Charlie Mason, Harold Phipps and Robert Thomas. Phipps began his jazz career playing bebop on flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 and baritone saxophone. As a teenager, Phipps was a regular in Newark and New York bands, once opening for Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

. In 1960 the Phipps band broke up to form the Mega Tones. Billy Phipps left the Mega Tones to tour with Buddy Johnson

Buddy Johnson

Not to be confused with Budd Johnson.Buddy Johnson was an American jazz and New York blues pianist and bandleader, active from the 1930s through the 1960s...

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

 and his Big Band, The Ray Charles Band, and "Brother" Jack McDuff

Jack McDuff

"Brother" Jack McDuff was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era of the 1960s, often performing with an organ trio.-Career:...

. Encouraged by Wayne Shorter who introduced Phipps to John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

, Phipps began shifting to hard bop in his style. Despite a significant jazz career, the lack of Phipps's notoriety (as well as that of other black jazz performers) has been attributed to the reportage of white jazz critics.

Recording and performance

Phipps has recorded baritone sax on several seminal jazz albums, including Primitive Modern with the Gil Melle

Gil Melle

Gil Mellé was an American artist, jazz musician and film composer.In the 1950s, Mellé's paintings and sculptures were shown in New York galleries and he created the cover art for albums by Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins...

 Quartet (1956), Gin and Orange (1969) with Brother Jack McDuff, and Ocho (1972) with Chico Mendoza. Phipps has performed internationally, touring Sweden, France, England, and the Netherlands with McDuff's band. Phipps continues to perform live in the New York city area and to record with other notable jazz musicians. Phipps was a featured performer in 2003 during the Jazz Foundation of America's Annual "Great Night In Harlem" Concert at the Apollo Theater

Apollo Theater

The Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous, and older, music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with Black performers...

, hosted by Bill Cosby, Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg and Branford Marsalis. In an homage to his Newark origins, Phipps performs with the Newark Jazz Elders, whose members provide a generational bridge between fifties bebop and contemporary jazz.

Selected discography

• Primitive Modern - Gil Melle Quartet (LP), Prestige Records, 1956
• Gin and Orange (Album, CD), Universal Music, 1969
• Ocho (LP, Album), West Side Latino Records, 1972
• Joy of Cookin (LP), Groove Merchant, 1972
• Tornado (LP), El Sonido, 1976
• Mamey Colora'o / Sneakin' Up Behind You (LP), El Sonido, 1976
• Sabroso!: The Afro-Latin Groove (LP), Rhino Records, 1998
• Ocho (The First Album) (CD, Album, RE), Universal Sound 2000
• Moon Rappin' (CD), Blue Note Records (USA), 2002
• Phipps & Friends (CD), Pipeline Music (USA), 2010