Biography
Guitarist Gene Phillips served as a reliable presence on West Coast recording dates, lending his skills to numerous jump blues releases from the late 1940s into the early 1950s before vanishing from the scene ahead of rock & roll’s arrival. Anyone who has examined the Bihari brothers’ inexpensive Crown LPs—those discs distinguished by artist “Fazzio”’s familiar, often garish cover artwork—will recognize Phillips’s album as one of the strongest purchases available in that series, particularly given the absence of any CD reissue.
Between 1947 and 1950 Phillips cut a substantial body of work for the Biharis’ Modern label. Among the frequently risqué jump blues numbers he delivered were “Big Legs,” “Fatso,” “Rock Bottom,” “Hey Now,” and his treatment of Big Bill Broonzy’s “Just a Dream.” Regular collaborators drawn from the upper ranks of the Los Angeles circuit included trumpeter Jake Porter, saxophonists Marshall Royal, Maxwell Davis, and Jack McVea, along with pianist Lloyd Glenn. Phillips repaid the association by contributing vocals and guitar to Porter’s own 1947 Imperial sessions.
Following a lone 1951 single for Imperial (“She’s Fit ’n Fat ’n Fine”), Phillips made his final appearance as a leader with the 1954 Combo release “Fish Man,” supported by McVea’s group.
Between 1947 and 1950 Phillips cut a substantial body of work for the Biharis’ Modern label. Among the frequently risqué jump blues numbers he delivered were “Big Legs,” “Fatso,” “Rock Bottom,” “Hey Now,” and his treatment of Big Bill Broonzy’s “Just a Dream.” Regular collaborators drawn from the upper ranks of the Los Angeles circuit included trumpeter Jake Porter, saxophonists Marshall Royal, Maxwell Davis, and Jack McVea, along with pianist Lloyd Glenn. Phillips repaid the association by contributing vocals and guitar to Porter’s own 1947 Imperial sessions.
Following a lone 1951 single for Imperial (“She’s Fit ’n Fat ’n Fine”), Phillips made his final appearance as a leader with the 1954 Combo release “Fish Man,” supported by McVea’s group.