Protocol II (Phantom Recordings)
Simon Phillips
Released October 25, 2013
14th Independent Music Awards Winner Jazz Instrumental Album
YouTube:
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Spotify:
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About:
The first Protocol record was recorded in May
1988 and released in 1989 by “Food For Thought” records. It was a 5-track
instrumental “mini-album” of demos that I’d been shopping to various record
companies at the time. I had recently installed my own studio for production
work so I recorded all the instruments myself. I was keen to get the record out
into the world directly! Feedback was positive but it just wasn’t the right
time for an instrumental signing.
The inspiration for the
style of music came from co-composing music with Tony Hymas for Jeff Beck’s
1980 release, “There & Back”, and was a very rock approach to jazz fusion. I
continued to write music in the same vein but with more involved arrangements,
culminating in “Force Majeure”, a live album recorded with the very first
version of Protocol, featuring Ray Russell (guitar), Anthony Jackson (bass) and
Tony Roberts (horns).
After moving to the USA, I continued to write music for what would become
“Symbiosis” (1995) This did not carry the Protocol name, but paved the way for
what became my first serious touring band. Featuring Andy Timmons (guitar),
Jimmy Earl (bass), Jeff Babko (keys) and Wendell Brooks (horns), we toured
Europe extensively in January and February of 1997. For our summer tour Jerry
Watts replaced Jimmy Earl (who had other commitments).
Hot on the heels of
that tour I was back in writing mode for the next album, “Another Lifetime,”
which featured the same touring band but with Anthony Jackson on bass and with
the addition of Ray Russell on guitar for the recording sessions. More
touring in Japan and the US followed and, in 1998, the band hit the road in
Europe to support the release of “Another Lifetime”.
I put together a small recording system for both of these tours (an 8-track for
the “Symbiosis” tour and a 16-track for the “Another Lifetime” tour) and, in
1999, mixed a live album, which was released as “Out Of The Blue.”
By then, I felt ready for a detour from the type of jazz fusion music I had
written for the last 20 years and embarked on a project with Jeff Babko called
“Vantage Point”. It was really exhilarating to re-visit straight-ahead be-bop
after so many years and we recorded that album in just one day at my house in
Sherman Oaks. This release featured Dave Carpenter (bass), Walt Fowler
(trumpet), Brandon Fields (tenor & soprano)and, of course, my
co-conspiriter Jeff Babko on piano. “Vantage Point” was released in 2000 and
the same band toured Europe in early 2001.
At that point, I became
busy with Toto and a number of other productions and my solo projects took a
back seat for awhile, but I was still composing and building up a collection of
tunes for future use.
There were two different configurations of the band during
this period: 2008 saw Andy Timmons on guitar, Steve Weingart on keys, Everett
Harp on horns and Del Atkins on bass. In 2009, the band featured Mike Miller on
guitar, Mitch Forman on keys, Melvin Lee Davis on bass, and Everett Harp on
horns.
There were a few false starts during the 2000s. I recorded a couple of tunes
but I wasn’t happy with my compositions at the time. Then, in early 2013, came
the opportunity to record with some of my favorite players. The NAMM show meant
that Andy Timmons was in LA so I approached Andy and Steve Weingart with the
idea of recording a jam record. Melvin Lee Davis had been playing bass with the
band on a few selected dates during this period but was not available to tour
later in the year. Enter Ernest Tibbs who has been with Protocol ever since.
Once the studio was booked I put together the demos of tunes that I felt could
be a starting point for the music and sent them out to the guys. To my delight
they loved what I had sent them and from there it was just a matter of
arranging, and coming up with some other sections as needed.
We began recording on January 29th, 2013 and by February 1st had 6 tunes in the
can. A couple of other sessions and the record was ready to mix! I distinctly
remember thinking whilst we were recording that this should be called Protocol
II. It had been 25 years since I recorded Protocol I and it felt so good
playing with this lineup. This was the Protocol I had always imagined!
Track Listing:
1. Wildfire 7:24
2. Soothsayer 8:56
3. Gemini 7: 51
4. Moments Of Fortune 8:11
5. Upside In Downside Up 6:56
6. First Orbit 6:34
7. Octopia 3:41
8. Enigma 9:17
Personnel:
Simon Phillips: drums
Andy Timmons: guitars
Steve Weingart: keyboards
Ernest Tibbs: bass
Recorded at Phantom Recordings
Recorded and Mixed by Simon Phillips
Assistant Engineers: Billie Rainbird, Matt Forsyth, Sadaharu Yagii
Mastered by Chris Muth
Photography by Billie Rainbird, Lou Spirito
Package Design: Lou Spirito
Review:
Protocol
II arrives fourteen years after drummer Simon Phillips’ last leader
date—the hard bop and post-bop based Vantage Point (Jazzline Records,
2000). And it comes approximately a quarter century after the original Protocol (Music
for Nations, 1988)—a true solo date that had Phillips covering all the
instruments, filling in the space around his calling-card drumming.
So why the long wait for another solo album? That question is pretty simple to
answer: Phillips wasn’t thrilled with much of the writing he had been doing
during that span of time. He was also plenty busy
with other work, hitting the studio with various artists, pleasing pop fans
through his ongoing work with Toto, and giving jazz fans his all in a trio with
pianist Hiromi and bassist Anthony Jackson, so there was no
reason to put something out there if he wasn’t ready. When he finally got the
itch to make his own record again, and felt he had material worth using, he put
together a band with two longtime musical colleagues—guitarist Andy
Timmons and keyboardist Steve Weingart—and bassist Ernest Tibbs,
a monster player he knew but never worked with. Phillips then booked some studio time
and sent everybody some demos of fully fleshed-out songs and shorter ideas. His
plan was to collaboratively piece together the material in the studio, and
that’s the way it went.
Phillips’ instrumental DIY approach on the original Protocol made
some of the instrumental work seem like window dressing for his drumming, but
that’s never the case on this one. All four men tear it up as equals, walking
the progressive fusion-y path together as one. Those who simply want to witness
Phillips’ chops-laden soloing get their wish. He throws down during the
sinister “Wildfire,” gets his shots in during “Gemini,”
shreds on the brief “Octopia,” and unleashes himself over a vamp on
the album-ending “Enigma.” But the menu has more than drum solos.
Straight up groove work, chilled-out atmospheric material with blues-tinged
guitar (“First Orbit”), rip-roaring thrill rides (“Upside In
Downside Up”) and more await. Yes, the material has some of that fusion
excess and studio slickness to it, but a little excess never hurt anybody.
Phillips has been silent as a leader for far too long, so it’s nice to see him
back in the saddle, putting his incredible skills to use in his own name.
Dan Bilawsky (All About Jazz)
