Phil Markowitz

Philip L. "Phil" Markowitz (born September 6, 1952 in New York City ) is an American musician ( keyboardist , composer) of fusion jazz , who has also emerged as a lyrical accompanist on the acoustic piano.

Live and act

Markowitz had piano lessons from the age of four and composition lessons from the age of eight. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music . The band Petrus , which he founded at this time, was presented at the Newport Jazz Festival 1973 as the most promising fusion group. From 1975 he worked with Nick Brignola , Jeremy Steig and Joe Chambers , but soon also with Toots Thielemans , with Miroslav Vitouš and with Chet Baker , with whom he was several times in Europe until 1983. He has also performed with Bob Berg , Al Di Meola , the Brecker Brothers , and Stan Getz , Lionel Hampton , Dizzy Gillespie and Mel Lewis . With Eddie Gomez and Al Foster , he took the (later released) album "Sno Peas" in 1980, before he recorded his debut album in 1983. In 1985 he founded a trio with Di Meola and Airto Moreira , which was then expanded to a quintet with Chip Jackson and Danny Gottlieb and released the album "Soaring Through a Dream". In 1987 he became a member of Bob Mintzer's big band ; since 1990 he has been touring internationally with Dave Liebman , with whom he has released albums such as "Miles Away" and "Voyage". In addition, he continues to maintain his own trio and was in recent years with Joe Lovano , Liebman and Ravi Coltrane as Saxophone Summit go. He also worked on recordings by Phil Woods , Vic Juris , Marvin Stamm and Jerry Hahn .

Markowitz initially worked as a university professor at Mannes College and now teaches at the Manhattan School of Music . But he also gives master classes at the University of Miami , the Eastman School and in Europe. He has been awarded several composition prizes.

Discographic notes

• Restless Dreams (1983)
• Soaring Throug a Thing (1986)
• Vic Juris : Night Tripper (1995)
• In the Woods (1996)
• With Dave Liebman: But Beautiful (2001)
• With Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano: Compassion: The Music of John Coltrane (2007, ed. 2017)

Lexigraphic entries

• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 .

Web links

• Web presence with discography (English, Flash required)
• Scott Yanow: Biography. Short biography on Allmusic