Trombonist Russ Phillips has yet to figure out what the word “retirement” means. Even before he retired from his day job as a production and account services coordinator with a Chicago marketing firm in 2012, he was playing over 100 nights and weekends throughout the year. Now music has become his full-time endeavor, and he is enjoying being one of the busiest musicians in the Windy City more than ever.
He regularly plays with three big bands: the 18-piece Jazz Community Big Band led by Marianne May, the Jazz Consortium Big Band, and the 17-piece British Buddy Alumni Big Band that features Frieda Lee on vocals.
Every Thursday, he’s with the 13-piece Swing Shift Orchestra at the legendary Green Mill Lounge (where the Fat Babies hold forth on Tuesday nights). Then he regularly joins some of the best ensemble players in Chicago who make up Petra’s Recession Seven, led by vocalist Petra Van Nuis.
A Unique Project
He’s involved in what he calls “a very unique and creative project” with the Metropolitan Jazz Octet that meets monthly to play original charts created by a former DePaul University music professor that draw comparison to works by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Bix Beiderbecke, but now are performed in a more modern harmonic style. The group is currently in rehearsals prior to recording a CD that is a tribute to Billie Holiday and featuring vocalist
