A West Coast session stalwart who appeared on a myriad of jump blues waxings during the late '40s and early '50s, guitarist
Gene Phillips faded from view even before the dawn of rock & roll. Any serious collector of
the Bihari brothers' budget-priced Crown albums (you know, the ones with those ubiquitous cheesy cover illustrations by artist "Fazzio") 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).
The
T-Bone Walker-influenced
Phillips recorded extensively for
the Biharis' Modern Imprint from 1947 through 1950. 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.
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.
–
Bill Dahl, Rovi