From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jul 25, 2002  1:12 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Gene Phillips
 
GENE PHILLIPS (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born Eugene Floyd Phillips, 25 July 1915, St. Louis, Missouri
Died 10 January 1990, Lakewood, California

Gene Phillips was one of those electric guitarists that came off the big band
jazz of the 1930s. He was a big fan of Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing,
Wynonie Harris and Louis Jordan.
The influence of the latter is undeniable when listening to the bulk of his
Modern recordings, done between 1947 and 1950, during the golden age
of Jump Blues. On these tracks he is accompanied by distinguished West
Coast soloists like tenor saxophonist/arranger Maxwell Davis, pianist Lloyd
Glenn, trumpeter Vernon "Jake" Porter, and saxophonists Marshal Royal
and Jack McVea.
Born in St Louis, Gene first became interested in the big band jazz of Duke
Ellington and Count Basie. During the 1930s he played with several groups,
joining the The Mills Brothers in 1941 with whom he went to Los Angeles.
He made his first recordings there as part of The Lorenzo Flennoy's
Trio for Melodisc and was signed to Modern Records where he became
quite a successful act, having 17 singles released. Alas, his style soon
became old-fashioned and Modern moved to other styles.
He recorded again for Imperial and apparently for Exclusive.

Recommended listening:
"Swinging The Blues" ACE CDCHD 746. 25 Modern tracks.