Phillip Greenlief

Saxophonist/Composer Phillip Greenlief is the founder of Evander Music; an independent record label that presents original composition, improvised music and new jazz. Since 1996, Greenlief's recordings and performances have received critical acclaim in many national jazz publications (Down Beat, Jazz Times, 5/4, Cadence, Modern Saxophone, All About Jazz, The Los Angeles Times , etc.). His duo recordings with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Scott Amendola received the highest ratings in the 1999 Music Hound Jazz Essential Album Guide. His recordings with the Lost Trio and Phillip Greenlief & Covered Pages were listed on the Critics' Top 10 Recording List of 2000 & 2001 in several publications (Jazziz, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Express, Downtown Music Guide - NYC).

Since 1982, Greenlief has performed internationally as a sideman and as a leader in a variety of settings. In addition to club dates and tours across North America and Europe, he has performed at the 1st Annual John Coltrane Festival in Los Angeles, North Sea Jazz Festival in Den Hague; the Freiburg Zelt Muzik Festival in Germany; the Du Maurier Jazz Festival in Vancouver, B.C.; the Werkstatt fur Improvisierte Musik in Zurich; the Ulrichsburg Festival and the Konfrontation Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria; and the International Festival of Scenic Arts in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1998 he lived in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he performed solo saxophone concerts in addition to performing and recording with several jazz groups and the Russian folk ensemble, Dubinushka.

After completing studies in music and literature at the University of Southern California in 1988, Greenlief composed "Love Songs to the Episodes of James Joyce's Ulysses". Other compositions include commissions from Rough and Tumble for their productions of Eugene Ionesco's Macbett, and their adaptation of The Trial, by Franz Kafka; music for the Sony Pictures Classics release, Dream with the Fishes, (starring David Arquette); and a collaboration with George Coates' Theater Works, performing in the world premiere of 20/20 Blake (based on the life/works of William Blake) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the production was featured on MTV.

Greenlief's recent projects include Music for Rilke's Duino Elegies, (commissioned by Western Oregon University) set for wind trio; and, for the Kaleidoscopic Sextet, Beauty is a Rare Ticket That Exploded, a new approach to the music of Ornette Coleman, where the composer utilizes the musical equivalent to the "cut up" literary techniques of William S. Burroughs. These works received 2001 premieres in Berlin, Zurich, Portland, and Melbourne, Australia. 2002 composition output includes works for the Wind Trio of Alphaville, the LA new-music quartet Boxes of Water, and an Oakland City Artist Grant for Portraits of Extraordinary Children, musical portraits for trio based on conversations and interviews between Greenlief and at-risk students in West Oakland schools. Greenlief has recently recorded his newest work, Cries and Whispers for Ingmar Bergman (solo soprano saxophone) for July 2002 release on the Artship Recordings label and is expanding it in collaboration with dancer Katie Faulkner. He is currently preparing recording projects with The Lost Trio, The Kaleidoscopic Sextet, and the Wind Trio of Alphaville for their eminent releases.

In addition to solo performances, Greenlief is an active member of: The Lost Trio, The Wind Trio of Alphaville (w/Jon Raskin & Philip Gelb), Phillip Greenlief & Covered Pages, Katie Faulkner - Phillip Greenlief Project, PG/Garth Powell duo, PG/Tim Perkis duo, the Odyssey Ensemble, Trio Putanesca, bush assassin, Orchestra Nostalgico, David Michalak's Reel Change, Three Wheeler (with Shoko Hikage & Dana Reason), green chimneys (music of Thelonious Monk, with Devin Hoff & Ches Smith), and the Kaleidoscopic Sextet.

Greenlief has performed or recorded with Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, PG/Scott Amendola duo, Ashley Adams Trio, Barrage, Bonnie Barnett Group, Big Lou's Polka Casserole, Hermann Buhler, Eugene Chadbourne, Nels Cline Trio, Clubfoot Orchestra, Crushing Spiral Ensemble, Beth Custer, Robert Dick, PG/Trevor Dunn duo, Dominic DuVal, Lisle Ellis Group, Marco Eneidi's American Jungle Orchestra, Wolfgang Fuchs, Ben Goldberg, Vinny Golia, Tootie Heath, Carla Kihlstedt, Steve Kirk Pop, Miya Masaoka, Roberto Miranda, William Parker, Waddada Leo Smith, Glenn Spearman, Surge, Tango #9, They Might Be Giants, Bertram Turetsky, and "Senator" Eugene Wright.