Jeff Philips, 65, died on Feb. 25, 2020. Mr. Philips was a bassist, singer-songwriter, engineer and producer, and he had first joined Local 802 in 1974.

Mr. Philips was born Jeffrey Philip Krellman and also performed as “Jeff Jefferson and the Jeffersonics.” Watch a video clip of him here.

Originally from New York City, Mr. Philips enjoyed a high-profile career before moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he gigged with Shawn Brown, Juan Jumon, Doug South, Derrick Williams, Tony Castellano Jr, Come Back Alice, Ward Cook, The Butter Boys, Ed Wright, Branson Welsh, Kid Royal and The League of Distinguished Bluesmen. He was also part of the musical entertainment at the Gasparilla Debutante and Coronation Balls.

Mr. Philips had a quirky writing style that you can see on his website (which exists as an archived version). On it, he made the following list of his ten “coolest gigs back in New York”:

1. House bassist for The 90th Anniversary Celebration Of Carnegie Hall. While in Eartha Kitt’s band, I backed up Eartha, Bobby Short, and Gregory Hines. Got to see the Count Basie Band (when he was still alive) from backstage!

2. Allman Brothers End Of Tour Party At Wetlands. A Teenage dream come true! Got to play with Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, and Alan Woody (on guitar)!

3. The “21” Club New Years Eve 2000. Played at the World-Famous 21 Club with Society Bandleader Roy Gerson to welcome in the Millenium!

4. The Cafe Wha. Where Hendrix used to play! Every Monday for five years, got to play in the house band for their “Jam Night” with world class talent, including Warren Haynes, Tony Newman (Jeff Beck), John Michel (John Oates), and many others!

5. CBGB’s New Years Eve 1985. Played at the Legendary CBGB’s many times with lots of different bands. This was a special gig, though, playing “Auld Lang Syne” at midnight, with Lenny Pickett (Saturday Night Live, Tower of Power), David Van Tieghem (Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno), and Tim Shillenbaum in the Ned Sublette Band. Ned is a musicologist specializing in the music of Cuba, and wrote the “gay” Willie Nelson song (look on youtube – the video – with Burt Reynolds – is hysterical!)

6. Dan Lynch Bar. For many years, Dan Lynch’s was the only Blues club in New York. I got to play with the creme of NY blues talent, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week with different blues bands, including the Holmes Brothers, John Paris (Johnny Winter), Frankie Paris (no relation!), and of course, my own group, which included, at different times, Catherine Russell (Steely Dan), Jimmy Daniel (John Cougar), Arno Hecht (Rollin Stones, James Brown), Steve Holley (Paul McCartney, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder), and lots of other amazing NY musicians!

7. The Folk City Come Dressed As Your Favorite Performer Contest. Played this gig for several years every Halloween. Two years in a row, the same girl won the contest, the first dressed as Shirley Temple and singing The Talking Heads “Psycho Killer”, and the second dressed as Mae West and singing “Like A Virgin”!

8. Jackie Mason At The Concord Hotel. I used to play as a staff musician “in the mountains”, also known as “The Borscht Belt”, backing up singers like Bobby Rydell and comics like Freddy Roman and Scott Record. But what made this gig memorable was that Jackie came in for rehearsal with the band in the dead of a snowy winter dressed in a Russian-styled hat, and promptly took off his shoe, and banged it on the piano, yelling “Ve vill NOT take our missiles out of Cuba”…..

9. Benefit for Stevie. The closest I’ll probably get to playing with The Who! Performed with a band that included Simon Townsend – Pete’s brother who plays acoustic guitar when The Who perform live and sings just like Pete, Godfrey Townsend (No relation), and Chris Clark from the John Entwistle Band, at a benefit for my former bandmate Stevie Cochrane

10. Other Fancy Gigs in Cool Places. Doing gigs in famous NYC landmarks, including the Waldorf-Astoria, The Plaza (Hello Eloise!), The Pierre, The Americana Hotel, Belmont Park Racetrack, Windows On The World (World Trade Center), The Rainbow Room (NBC Studios), Shea Stadium (NY Mets), Downtown Athletic Club (Home of the Heisman Trophy)…

11. Also Honorable Mention. The many gigs backing up “oldies” performers such as Martha and The Vandellas, The Shirelles, The Del-Vikings, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Bobby Rydel, The Drifters (with several groups, each having one or two original members), The Coasters (ditto!), and touring with The Vibrations for two years (they did the original “My Girl Sloopy” before the McCoys, as well as “Peanut Butter” and several other hits.

In 2018, Mr. Philips recovered from a serious brain surgery operation. Afterwards, on his website, he wrote, “I have always been, and always will be, defined by one simple concept that I’ve always been fortunate enough to be able to live by, and that can now, joyfully, continue with me for the rest of my life: to create satisfying music by myself, and to help others create better music, with me as part of their team. This is going to be the best life I could ever possibly have, regardless of how long it lasts. And it continues to get even better.”

Mr. Philips’ significant other of 10 years, Lisa Powers, told Allegro, “Jeff once told me that as a young teen, he used to lay under his family glass coffee table with a speaker to hear music more clearly. He had an extremely keen ability to hear music and an amazing memory of a large repertoire of music of many genres. Jeff was my light. Everything about Jeff made me smile. His intensity, compassion, and love of his friends and family completed him. His music was his first love right up until the day he passed away. All I can say is that I’m so grateful that he and the people he loved were in my life and that others loved him probably  just as much as I did.”

Local 802 member Russell Alexander said, “Jeff and I did a lot of gigs together. Along with his dedication as a father, he was a dedicated musician who was easy to play with because of his great love of all types of music.”

Mr. Philip’s friend from Florida, Mike “Calzone” Cretella, e-mailed us this tribute: “What can I say about Jeff? That he was a world-class musician? That had great ears? That he was modest about his talent? The best thing I could say about Jeff is that when I first met him, we just clicked not just musically but as friends. Two of my best musical moments were playing with Jeff. They were two unforgettable moments. When we played, I never had to worry about telling Jeff to make changes because he knew exactly where we were going to go. I love the guy, and I miss him. The best thing I can say about Jeff is that he was my dear friend, and I love the guy.”

Allegro also received the following tribute to Mr. Philips from his friend Michael Wong:

Jeff was one of my oldest friendships. Around 1981, I was looking for an electric bass teacher. Since I had studied classical piano, and then electric guitar, I knew the value of a good teacher. A quick perusal of the Village Voice classifieds led me to Jeff. At his studio apartment on Cornelia Street there was barely any room for a teacher and a student, plus two bass guitars, but we made it work. He opened my ears to Jaco Pastorius, Ron Carter, James Jamerson, Sly and Robbie, everything Motown and R&B. The rock music I played with my bands became easy and eventually I moved on to other teachers and became a more rounded musician, but always kept in touch with Jeff. I was there through his studio launches and closures and kept him appraised of my musical and nonmusical professional journey. Many times, I was there to support him through life’s inequities and was devastated that I missed his end by just a couple of days.

Although I’m not a professional musician today, Jeff made me the musician I am today. While I still have a very serious day job, I play guitar every day, mainly jazz. I’ve taught budding musicians, run jazz workshops, recorded as an accompanist, played in pit bands for local musical theatre in the SF Bay Area and still attend open jazz jams. Every time I warm up, I’m playing the exercises Jeff gave me over 40 years ago. Every time I hear a metronome, I’m locking to the click because Jeff trained me to be as one with the click. Every time I play in a band, I’m listening to see if the drummer and I can push and pull the beat to give the music just a *little* more, just like Jeff taught me. When I have to get familiar with a guitar score, I’m reading music because Jeff taught me how to read music as a professional. Frankly, my success at my day job also has a heavy debt to Jeff.

As I continue my journey on guitar, I wish Jeff was here to teach me again, because even after playing music for over 50 years I’m still a student and Jeff still had things to teach me. I miss him every day.

Mr. Philips is survived by his sister Felice (and her husband Steven), his nieces Sabrina and Cara, his nephew Robby, his daughter Ariana, and his significant other of 10 years, Lisa Powers.