There is a harmonic rumbling emanating from Portland Oregon, and if you listen quite closely you might hear the sweet sound of a sax floating through the air. Devin Phillips is making quite a splash on the Portland music scene, and his road to P-town is an epic tale of devastation and rebirth. Almost as amazing as is his musical chops on his tenor and soprano saxophone, is the tumultuous path that led him here.
Phillips is one of the hundreds of thousands of New Orleans residents whose lives were changed forever during Hurricane Katrina. He had grown up in New Orleans as a child, and he had even been playing the Jazz Festival in some capacity since he was twelve. As the warnings of the storm began to roll in, he was one of the lucky ones who had the resources to have been able to get out safely. One day before the storm hit, he and three friends grabbed whatever they could save and drove up to Shreveport, La. to his father’s home to watch the impending storm roll in off the Gulf. In a matter of hours all that he had known as home was destroyed, and he (as well as countless others) were left with a huge question to answer: What next?
While trying to recuperate from the shock, Phillips surfed the internet and found an ad welcoming displaced N.O.L.A. musicians to Portland Oregon which was arranged by the P.D.X. Jazz festival. Phillips had briefly been here before, and in the matter of hours he was finalizing plans to take an unknown path to the Northwest, and start over.
What Devin didn’t expect was the amount of love and support he would receive from the community in Portland. Phillips credits the P.D.X. Jazzfest and Sho Dozono who is the C.E.O. of Azumano Travel, as having a huge impact on his travels as well as his transition. Phillips, as well as nearly fifty other displaced musicians were flown up to Portland and warmly greeted at the airport by the Portland music community. They were given a place to stay at a fine hotel, and introduced to a variety of people in the local community as well as the music scene. Within one week of arriving, Phillips was hooked up and playing with other musicians in town. This was a true community effort across the board.
In talking to Phillips you can really see the sincerity of his appreciation. He is humbled by the generosity that has given him a chance to build himself a new home town, and he really couldn’t thank the community of Portland and the organizers of the P.D.X. Jazzfest enough.
From there it was only a matter of time that this 24 year old musician who has toured with the likes of Los Hombres Calientes and the modern version of the Headhunters would find his own band mates and spread the musical love back to the community that has given him so much.
I was first introduced to Phillips at my local musical stomping grounds of the Goodfoot. The Goodfoot is a musical Shangri-La in Portland. The Goodfoot is by far the best venue in town to see music, and its owner Neil Leeborg goes out of his way to allow up and coming artists a stage to show the world what they can do. The beauty of the Goodfoot is not due to any of the frilly amenities that some venues like to tout, but for its philosophy toward helping to grow the improvisational music scene on the grassroots level. It seems that every week I find myself deep in a groove there.
Devin Phillip’s New Orleans Funk Project blew me away upon the first listen. They rely on the classic funk covers of the usual suspects of Herbie Hancock, Curtis Mayfield, the Meters, but they use their own chops and interpretations to make these songs their own. This is a dance party of unparalleled comparison in Portland. These shows have that genuine New Orleans flavor that I so crave, and we had the pleasure of enjoying this on a weekly basis for six straight weeks. I attended four of the six weeks, and I left each performance smiling without fail. As Devin said this is his outlet to “shout out to the world,” and when the musicians at the Goodfoot are shouting, the place shouts back with a united euphoric scream.
Each musician in Phillips’s band holds their own. Ramsey Embrik is an absolute monster on the clavinet and keyboards. The bassist Al Criado is also rock solid, which is a necessity in a funk band. There have been nights where I found myself zoning in on his fluid fingers, and not leaving his groove all night. Mark DiFlorio locks down the groove on drums, and together this foursome is quite fantastic. They are often accompanied by a rotating cast of musicians, but these four are the core of the funk project.
To compliment this funk fest Phillips has a second project that deserves equal respect, but it lives in a completely different musical space. Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead is more of a classic sit down Jazz quartet that you would expect to see in a tiny smoky bar in the 1950’s in New York City. They have established the Blue Monk (another southeast venue) as a kind of home, but they have played other venues around town from time to time. Phillips is joined by Eric Gruber on the stand up bass, Andrew Oliver who plays classic piano and Mark DiFlorio on drums in this project as well. This is bare-bones jazz that is beautiful in its simplicity. This is terrific improvisation, and Phillips is leading the charge.
Devin Phillips is building up his reputation as a tremendous musician here in Portland, and only time will tell on how bright his star can shine. So if you wander through Portland and you hear the sweet sounds of a sax wafting through the air, follow the sound to its source, because you never quite know when you might stumble upon an authentic New Orleans party.
