Harvey Gene Phillips, Sr. (December 2, 1929 – October 20, 2010) was an American tuba player. He served as the Distinguished Professor of the

Jacobs School of Music The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, is a music conservatory established in 1921. Until 2005, it was known as the Indiana University School of Music. It has more than 1,500 students, approximately half of whom ar ...

Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest campu ...

(from 1971 to 1994) and was dedicated advocate for the tuba becoming popularly known as Mr. Tuba.

Biography

Born in Aurora, Missouri, Phillips was a professional freelance musician in New York City from 1950 to 1971, winning his first professional position with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Band as a

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

. In 1960, he co-founded The All-Star Concert Band with American cornet soloist James F. Burke (Musician). The band recorded three albums and was composed of virtually every top soloist and first chair player in the country. He served as personnel manager for Symphony of the Air,

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appeara ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

, and

Gunther Schuller Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician. Biography and works Early years Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...

. He was a key figure in the formation of the

International Tuba Euphonium Association The International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA), founded in 1973 as the Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association (TUBA), is an international organization dedicated to performers, teachers and friends of the tuba and euphonium. The first asso ...

(formerly T.U.B.A.) and the founder and president of the Harvey Phillips Foundation, Inc. which administers Octubafest,

Tubachristmas TubaChristmas is a music concert held in cities worldwide that celebrates those who play, teach, and compose music for instruments in the tuba family, including the tuba, sousaphone, baritone, and euphonium, though some participants bring rarer me ...

, Tubasantas, Tubacompany, and Tubajazz. Along with William Bell,

August Helleberg August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

, Gene Pokorny, and

Arnold Jacobs Arnold Maurice Jacobs (June 11, 1915 – October 7, 1998) was an American tubist who spent most of his career with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He held that position from 1944 until his retirement in 1988. Jacobs was considered one of the fo ...

, Phillips is considered legendary among tubists. In 2007, Phillips was inducted into the

American Classical Music Hall of Fame The American Classical Music Hall of Fame and Museum is a non-profit organization celebrating past and present individuals and institutions that have made significant contributions to classical music—"people who have contributed to American musi ...

, the only wind instrument player to receive this prestigious honor. Other inductees that year included

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

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and the

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. He died of Parkinson's in Bloomington, aged 80.

Awards

* Principal Tuba,

Circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

Hall of Fame Band * Honorary Doctor of Music New England Conservatory (1971) * Harvey Phillips Day has been celebrated by the New England conservatory (1971) and by his home town Bi-Centennial Celebration, Marionville, Missouri (1976) *

Kappa Kappa Psi Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity (, colloquially referred to as KKPsi), is a fraternity for college and university band members in the United States. It was founded on November 27, 1919, on Thanksgiving Day, at Oklahoma Agricul ...

Distinguished Service to Music Medal The Distinguished Service to Music Medal is an award presented by Kappa Kappa Psi, National Honorary Band Fraternity. It is awarded to people who have contributed to the advancement of the wind band "as a cultural, musical and educational medium. ...

(1979) * Governor of Missouri declared a Harvey Phillips Weekend (1985) * Honorary Doctor of Humanities

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

(1987) * Association of Concert Bands "first" Mentor Ideal Award (1994) * Sousa Foundation Sudler Medal of the Order of Merit award (1995) * National Band Association Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts Award (1995) * United Musical Instruments Lifetime Achievement Award (1996) *

American Bandmasters Association The American Bandmasters Association (ABA) was formed in 1929 by Edwin Franko Goldman to promote concert band music.Raoul F. Camus. "American Bandmasters Association." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/sub ...

Edwin Franco Goldman Award (1996) * Rafael Mendez Brass Institute Lifetime Achievement Award (1997) * Colonial Euphonium-Tuba Institute Development of Musical Artistry & Opportunities Award (1997) *

Phi Mu Alpha Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "w ...

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

Award (1997) * Inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame (2007) * Indiana University President's Award for Excellence (2008) * Inducted into the Windjammers Unlimited, Inc. Hall of Fame (2010)

Discography

With

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ...

* ''

Blues - The Common Ground Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African- ...

'' (Verve, 1968) With

Gil Evans Orchestra Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role i ...

* '' New Bottle Old Wine'' (World Pacific, 1958) * '' Into the Hot'' (Impulse!, 1961) With

Curtis Fuller Curtis DuBois Fuller (December 15, 1932May 8, 2021) was an American jazz trombonist. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and contributed to many classic jazz recordings. Early life Fuller was born in Detroit on December 15, 1932. ...

* '' Cabin in the Sky'' (Impulse!, 1962) With

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...

* ''

Perceptions Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

'' (Verve, 1961) With

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

* ''Odds Against Tomorrow'' (Soundtrack) (United Artists, 1959) * ''

The Golden Striker ''The Golden Striker'' (subtitled ''Music for Brass & Piano by John Lewis Conducted & Played by the Composer'') is an album in the third stream music genre composed by John Lewis recorded for the Atlantic label in 1960.Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

* ''

Movin' Wes ''Movin' Wes'' is an album by the American jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, released in 1964. It reached number 18 on the ''Billboard'' jazz albums chart in 1967, his second album to reach the charts after '' Bumpin. History ''Movin' Wes'' was ...

'' (Verve, 1962) With Gus Vali & His Orchestra * '' A Greek in Dixieland'' (United Artists, 1958) Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort

References

External links

Jacobs School of Music

Jacobs School Blog

by Bruce Duffie, April 24, 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Harvey American classical tubists 2010 deaths Jacobs School of Music faculty 1929 births Distinguished Service to Music Medal recipients People from Aurora, Missouri Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort members 20th-century classical musicians