The Clef Years - Classic Albums 1952-56

Flip Phillips was a tenor saxophonist who came to the fore in the post-war era playing with the bands of Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman and Frankie Newton, and was perhaps most famously associated with Norman Granz’ Jazz At The Philharmonic concerts in the late ‘40s and into the 1950s. In the early 1950s he recorded a string of sessions for Norman Granz, leading groups that comprised many different line-ups, with most of the titles coming out a succession of albums on Granz’ Clef label during this era, and being mixed and matched on different LP releases during that time. This great-value 58-track 3-CD collection comprises most of the titles he recorded for Granz at these sessions, mostly presented in the order and format they were released on the albums “Flip Phillips Quartet”, “Flip Phillips Collates Vols. 1 & 2”, “Jumpng Moods”, “Flip Phillips & Buddy Rich Trio”, “Flip Phillips Quintet (Rock With Flip)”, and the re-issue packages “Flip Wails”, “Swingin’ With Flip Phillips” and “Flip”. It features performances with some of the great names of the era - Oscar Peterson, Charlie Shavers, Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Howard McGhee, Alvin Stoller, Buddy Rich, Hank Jones, Herb Ellis, Freddie Green, Max Roach and more – and as a bonus includes a ‘live’ jam session version of “Stompin’ At The Savoy Pt. 1”. It’s a great showcase for Flip Phillips at probably the zenith of his career.