Woolf Phillips

b. 5 January 1919, London, England, d. 11 July 2003, Reseda, California, USA. Band leader Phillips was educated at the Central Foundation School in Mile End, London, and in his early teens began playing tenor saxophone on a professional basis. At the age of 14 Phillips joined the arranging department of Campbell Connolly where his older brother, Sid Phillips, was also arranging. After Campbell Connolly, Phillips joined music publisher Lawrence Wright but opted to leave the company to play the trombone with the Teddy Joyce Juvenile Band. Soon, he moved to the Joe Loss band, playing trombone and writing arrangements, and also worked with other less well-known bands before joining Jack Hylton and then the ‘king’ of UK dance band music, Ambrose. During World War II Phillips played in the band of the Royal Army Medical Corps and also performed with and arranged for Harry Roy. Later he was a member of the original Ted Heath band on radio and records. After the war Phillips played with Ambrose again and with Geraldo, formed his own big band, and was also leader of the Skyrockets at the London Palladium. The latter unit recorded for HMV Records and introduced several young new musicians, including John Dankworth and Kenny Baker. As conductor at the Palladium during the 50s and 60s, Phillips worked with many visiting American musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland. Phillips continued to play and arrange in a variety of musical styles and settings, working in the West End of London at the glitzy nightclub, the Pigalle, and composing the theme for television series What’s My Line. In 1967 he moved to the USA, and continued to arrange and compose symphonic music. He also conducted the Camarillo Symphony Orchestra and enjoyed a stint as president of the American Society of Arrangers and Composers.