Check Out Tina Phillips’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Phillips.

Hi Tina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story starts before I was born with a family band, great grandfather, uncles, and grandfather who performed in the Trinidad Colorado area in the early 1900’s. The family moved to the Denver area where my Grandfather, Albert Martinez, sr. was a saxophone player for many years. I remember him warming up in the living room before gigs. His son Junior was a trumpet player but decided the musician’s crazy life was not for him and my Uncle Willie Martinez was a jazz piano player in Denver for many years. I guess I inherited the family musical gene. I started with folk music in the 1970’s as did many of us at that time, writing songs and playing guitar in coffee houses in the Denver area. I was drawn to jazz and knew if I wanted to play that intriguing music, I’d better go to music school and study. I did for two years and got pregnant with my son. It was time to support him. With such amazing jazz, the music scene in the area in the early 1980’s I went to work singing and booking myself in clubs. It was an amazing time with musicians moving here from all over the country and the ones already, Art Lande, Eric Gunnison, Paul Warburton, Mark Simon, Bruno Carr and so many more. I was fortunate to start my career in the real world, learning and working with these amazing musicians. I always was aware that I didn’t have to move to New York or Los Angeles to have my opportunity to learn and grow and work with cats of this caliber. Boy, was I lucky to be born here. They all came to me. Hahahaha. I learned my craft in the real world after getting a good start in the music school with theory. What an amazing stroke of luck. During those years, the music scene was pretty vibrant, and touring musicians would come to town, do their concerts and then stop in to jam at the local clubs like El Chapultepec. I learned I grew, I heard and I was hooked. It wasn’t easy raising my son, as a single parent, as a musician/vocal coach. There was a ten year period where I had to take a part-time job, about 10 hours a week in retail, along with the gigs and students to keep the money coming in so I could support him. It was not my favorite thing to have to do, but I knew it was a means to and end and it paid off. I did what I needed to do to raise my son, gigs, teaching, a part-time job and full-time parent. Was it easy? No. Was it worth it? Yes? There were many good-paying gigs during those years and many amazing musicians that I had the opportunity to hire and work with. We all got along. The vocalists would come to each other’s gig and support each other.

One year I put a list of everyone I got to work with and all of the clubs. So many memories of my 40+ years as a professional musician. They say don’t give up. Keep trucking until you reach your goals. We musicians who stay at it must be a bit crazy because it’s a very difficult but rewarding path to take. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Most musicians don’t bring in a lot of money. We make ends meet. At the same time, we are self-employed and pay taxes in the top bracket because we don’t have an employee paying a portion of our income tax. We also never have our insurance paid for by an employee or even a portion. We pay the whole thing ourselves. I would say that most of us get by, so by the time we are retirement age, we don’t retire, not just because we love what we do but because we financially can’t. It’s a good thing we love what we do. That being said, we don’t really have savings built up. It must be true, the saying. Old musicians never die. They just slowly fade away. My career has spanned 40+ years with CD’s played all over the world. Music played on radio stations, amazing concerts, write-ups by world-renown critics like Scott Yanow. I have the opportunity to sit at my piano and work on new tunes, compose originals, teach amazing students. That’s my office, and I feel blessed every day. I don’t think any musician takes any of this for granted. I know I wake up, go to work and think, whoa, how did this happen, how do I get to do this, how do I get to work with amazing, brilliant musicians that I am in awe of???? How do we get to play these amazing tunes and my originals too. They all make me sound good! It’s such incredible collaboration and friendship! I am humbled. So now we’re dealing with COVID and the arts. It’s such a frightening time for so many, not just in music. Everything is on hold for safety and that’s OK. I want to stick around. I still have lots to share, and I can’t wait to work with so many again. Yes, I miss everyone, but we will get back to it again. That will be such a celebration!!!!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a professional jazz vocalist/vocal coach/ clinician/ composer/recording artist. I do jazz, improvisation. We don’t just work with the Great American Song Book. We can take any song, even more, modern and create within the form. I work with some of the most respected musicians of our time. I tour, our music is played all over the world. Being a jazz musician, I also have a passion for teaching and inspiring people to find their voice, sing, be the best they can, and have fun. I’ve done clinics in schools and hopefully have inspired kids in music no matter what career they choose. I know the importance of the arts and how it’s undeserved in schools and hope I’ve opened up another generation to enjoy the arts. I love working with adult students and inspiring them also to feel safe to express themselves through song. I hope I am able to do that with each student. What sets me apart from others? When you’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for years, you find your own voice, your own style. The influences become many and it creates who you are.

What’s next?
I plan to stay alive right now. Hahaha. When things slow down with COVID, I plan on continuing my career. I have more originals to record, more records to do, more gigs with amazing musicians that got put on hold because of this pandemic. Yes, there are so many plans, and we all have to be patient until we can get up and running again. I plan to continue to do concerts, to teach, to work with my dear friends. I miss those gigs and the musicians/friends who are all like family. I’m looking forward to doing the things that got canceled. It will be such a celebration. I think audiences miss live music as much as we musicians miss sharing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TinaPhillipsJazz.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinaphillipsjazz/

Image Credits
Photos with Bass by Martin Bassani