Phil Urso, Jazz Saxophonist

[Gordo]

From the Jazz Programmers (radio) List comes this sad news. Condolences to 
Joe (a list member) and to Phil's friends and family,
Ed
 
 
Veteran saxist Philip "Phil" Urso
Born: Oct 02, 1925 in Jersey City, New  Jersey
Died: April 7th, 2008, Denver CO


Subtlety and restraint  defined the playing of Phil Urso, a member of the
1950s' cool school who owed  a strong artistic debt to Lester "Pres" Young
but never came across as a  clone of him. Urso started out on clarinet, but
the tenor sax became his  primary instrument after he studied it in high
school. Though not that  well-known, Urso was a solid and expressive jazzman
who played with Woody  Herman, Jimmy Dorsey, Miles Davis, Terry Gibbs, Oscar
Pettiford and others in  the 1950s. In 1954, he co-led a quintet with
trombonist Bob Brookmeyer that  recorded for Savoy, but Urso's best-known
association came in 1955 and 1956,  when he was a sideman for Chet Baker.
Urso was prominently featured on some  of the trumpeter's Pacific Jazz
recordings of 1956, which make one wish he  had become more visible instead
of less so. But after the '50s, very little  was heard about Urso on a
national level, although he did remain active in  the jazz scene of his
adopted home of Denver well into the 1990s. Phil  recorded an album with Carl
Saunders "Salute Chet Baker" for Colorado's own  Jazzed Media label a few
years ago. Phil was part of the all-star big band  that was part of the
performoing artists that played for jazz89KUVO's 20th  Anniversary Concert in
2005 that was headlined by Marian McPartland. Urso had  been ill for the past
year.

More details soon.......