DEER HEAD INN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
18 PIECE ENSEMBLE OF COTA ALL STARS
MONDAY, MAY 27

Phil Palombi
Tri Fi, Performing Friday, May 3

Grammy award winning bassist Phil Palombi is "one of the most sought after young bass players", according to Steely Dan tenor saxophonist and renowned jazz musician Walt Weiskopf. His performance and recording credits include such players as, Michael Brecker, Billy Hart, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Etta Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Chris Potter, Rich Perry, Curtis Stigers, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lew Tabackin, Chucho Valdes, Mark Turner, Eliot Zigmund, Don Friedman, and The Village Vanguard Orchestra to name a few. Upon moving to New York City in 1997, he immediately began working full time performing at many of the city's jazz venues. Jazz wasn't the only music he was interested in however. Phil is also an accomplished electric bassist and performs regularly around the city in various funk, R & B, and Brazilian pop bands.
2011 marked the 50th anniversary of the death of bass legend Scott LaFaro, who Phil honors in his latest recording RE:Person I Knew – A Tribute to Scott LaFaro. The recording features the working trio of piano great Don Friedman and Eliot Zigmund. The special guest on the recording is LaFaro's 1925 Abraham Prescott bass- the bass that he used exclusively for the last four years of his life. Barrie Kolstein, the owner of the treasure, with the blessing of the LaFaro estate, granted Phil the honor of using the instrument for the recording as well as the weekend CD release concerts months later. This was a first for the instrument, having not been played professionally since LaFaro's last gig with Stan Getz in Newport a week before his tragic accident.

When Phil isn't busy working as one of NYC's first call bassists or booking his trio with Friedman and Zigmund, he is actively pursuing music with his co-lead trio Tri-Fi.
For five years prior, Palombi was the bassist for Concord recording artist Curtis Stigers. Backing Curtis took Phil to nearly every continent, performing over 100 dates a year. Playing that many gigs a year with the same band is a rarity these days- a fact that is not lost on Curtis's backing trio. In 2005, they formed the group Tri-Fi, released four CD's, and have garnished rave reviews by such publications as Playlist Magazine, All About Jazz, and The London Times.