Joseph Edward Filippelli was born in New York City on March 26, 1915 and is better known by his professional moniker, Flip Phillips. He started his musical career as a youth playing clarinet in a restaurant in his home borough of Brooklyn and went on to be widely known for his performances with Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) concerts and recordings.

By the time he was playing with the bands led by Red Norvo, Wingy Manon and Benny Goodman, he was primarily performing on tenor saxophone. He became a regular soloist with the Woody Herman band in the 1940s and from the middle of that decade into the 1950s Phillips was a regular participant on the JATP tours. He made multiple appearances on recordings by Charlie Parker during this period. He also led many sessions for Clef Records during this period, some of which featured sideman like Kai Winding, Sonny Criss, Tommy Turk, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne. in 1952 he appeared on an album by Billie Holiday.

He retired to Florida in the late 1950s, but after fifteen years returned to the jazz scene and relocated to New York. Phillips began to record again and performed well into his 80s. Flip Phillips passed away in 2001 at the age of 86.

Here is a link to the Flip Phillips All-Stars in performance:

"FLIP PHILLIPS ALL_STARS"