In addition, he has also risen to the challenge of recording with artists as iconoclastic as Brian Eno, Robert Fripp and John Cale. Genre-hopping is no problem for the man who has been a member of the jazz ensemble Brand X and the hugely successful Genesis. In another role entirely, he has enjoyed both commercial success and critical acclaim for acting performances as divergent as a starring role in the British film "Buster" and a cameo in the American production "And the Band Played ON."
This is the same man who, in 1996, fulfilled a lifetime ambition by taking to the road with his own 20-piece big band, debuting at the Albert Hall in the company of conductor Quincy Jones and guest vocalist Tony Bennett, and going on to play seven other European concerts, including two shows at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival.
This year again, Phil Collins will play a selected number of summer festivals, not only in Europe but also in America with a new big band with special guest vocalist Oletta Adams and featuring Gerald Albright on saxophone.
If very much is known about Phil Collins as a rock artist, less is known about his big dedication to jazz music. Already at school, Phil Collins has been a big fan of legendary drummers Sid Catlett, Sonny Payne and Jo Jones, not to forget Buddy Rich.
For many years, Phil thought of forming a big band and for the 30th anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs, founder and artistic director of the Festival, gave him a "carte blanche" for an entire evening. First, he was terrified and said "how can I be a drummer in a big band where all the charts are written and I cannot read music!" Anyway, Phil decided to invent his own music writing and the first concert in Montreux in 1996 was such a success that another concert had to be added on the same day.
When Phil is asked about the difference between a rock drummer and a jazz drummer or how to be both of them, he replies, "I cannot switch from jazz to rock overnight. I need a type of immersion in rock or in jazz because the dynamic is very different from one style to another. Overall, the sound is totally different from rock to jazz."
IN 1964, Phil heard the LP "Love Supreme" by John Coltrane with Elvin Jones on drums for the first time. In 1966, he discovered two great LPs by Buddy Rich - "Swinging New Big Band" and the West Side Story medley. At the 1986 Grammy’s ceremony, the producer of the show asked Tony Williams, Buddy Rich and Phil Collins to do a couple of 4/4 exchanges. Phil thought a little bit about the idea and said to the producer "Please give Tony and Buddy more time - those guys deserve it more than I do and I’d rather sit in the audience and watch them play."
Phil now lives in Switzerland and has shown another side of his talent by drawing not only the official poster of this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival, but also portraits of Igor Stravinsky and Miles Davis, to be put in the entrances of the halls bearing their names at the Montreux Convention Center where the Festival is held.
One album by Phil Collins was called "But Seriously" and this title is definitely showing what Phil’s philosophy is all about; a great sense of humour but a very serious and dedicated approach to music, should it be jazz or rock.
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