Discography

Phil has released three albums to date. Phil recorded the first two albums, "The High Rollers" and "High Time," with the High Rollers, the band he founded in 1996. The most recent, "Phil Berkowitz Plays … Louis' Blues: The Music of Louis Jordan," is a solo album on which Phil is joined by other leading Bay Area blues musicians.

Here you can read Phil's comments about the albums and listen to samples of all the songs on "Louis' Blues" and "High Time."

Phil Berkowitz Plays … Louis' Blues:
The Music of Louis Jordan

This is my best album yet! Don't all artists say that about their most current work? But seriously, I put the most amount of my time & effort into this project and I'm very proud of the results.

About a year and a half ago, I had expressed to my friend & mentor Danny Caron that as a harmonica player, it would be cool to do a recording of Louis Jordan songs. He agreed with me and decided to not only play on it, but also help me produce it. It was quite a challenge interpreting Jordan's material. He truly was the master at delivering fluid lines on his ax as well as seemingly effortless phrasing & timing on his vocals; all of it replete with the uncanny humorous charm that gave his performances legendary status.

I used all new musical personnel, three of the six members from the Bay area swing group Stompy Jones. I guess it goes without saying that this material was right up their alley. Scott Lawerence on piano, Bowen Brown on drums, & "Little" David Rose on bass. I recorded again at Bellboy (Dave Bell even backs me up vocally on "Blue Light Boogie"). My wife, Ginger, provides some great back-up harmonies (and hand claps) on "A Dollar Down" as well as "Cat Scratchin'."

I alternated between using my Bassman and my little 1x15 Supro amplifier. I got a good effect with the Supro by indirectly miking it on " … Outskirts of Town." Blistering guitar from Danny on "Caldonia"; I also managed to get a nice gritty metallic tone through my Supro on that tune. I guess you could call it "Caldonia on Steroids!"

Songs on the CD

(click on the icons to hear streaming samples of the songs in either MP3 or Real Audio format)

		1	Salt Pork, West Virginia (2:46)
		2	Let the Good Times Roll (3:15)
		3	I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town (4:32)
		4	A Dollar Down (2:50)
		5	Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby (3:38)
		6	Caldonia (2:50)
		7	Do You Call That a Buddy? (Dirty Cat) (4:37)
		8	Cat Scratchin' (2:51)
		9	Blue Light Boogie (5:15)
		10	If You're So Smart, How Come You Ain't Rich? (2:59)
		11	Early in the Morning (5:10)
		12	Choo Choo Ch' Boogie (2:38)
		13	Three-Handed Woman (3:46)
		14	Saturday Night Fish Fry (5:13)

High Time

This was my transition album, both personally and professionally. By writing nine out of the twelve songs on it myself (with some help from Danny Caron), it was the first time I felt I could really express myself creatively from my own life-experiences. At the time, band personnel was changing, my life was changing. I got married shortly before we recorded it. It seemed like there was a lot of turmoil going on.

We recorded it at Bellboy Recording in Richmond, California, summer of 2001. We still had Des and Elvis playing with us, but this time there were a bunch of other participants. A couple of great horn players (Doug Rowan & Spazz) as well as a phenomenal New Orleans influenced piano guy named Tom Whitehead (former workshop instructor) on "Before You Go." My wife, Ginger T., sings lead vocal on "5-10-15 Hours."

We also had a guy originally from Poland, Pavel Kuczera, play some fine piano on at least six of the tracks. He had approached me one night in a drunken stupor when we were playing at the old Paradise Lounge in the city, and said that we were in desperate need of a piano player and that he could play just like Otis Spahn. At the time, I was thinking "Yeah … Right!" Boy, did he prove me wrong!

Songs on the CD

(click on the icons to hear streaming samples of the songs in either MP3 or Real Audio format)

		1	24-7 Man (3:50)
		2	Before You Go (3:36)
		3	Don't Go There (4:21)
		4	Flexible Flyer (3:49)
		5	Ain't No Big Deal (3:54)
		6	5-10-5 Hours (4:41)
		7	The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (5:15)
		8	Washing Machine Blues (3:41)
		9	Sometimes (6:09)
		10	Dark Is the Night (4:44)
		11	That Extra Mile (5:22)
		12	High Time (3:00)

The High Rollers

This was our very first CD recording. A friend of ours, Harold Day, a great 60s, 70s, & 80s R&B influenced guitar player, let us use his tiny cluttered 10 x 15 rehearsal space in San Francisco to record it. I believe we paid only $300 to do the whole thing. Again, we had friends of the band, Dave Belknap (photography) & Sally Quirk Mills (graphic art, which I still like best of all to date), help us put it together for free. I guess you could call it the quintessential low-budget album. This was our rough & ready band that played together from 1999 to 2002. Des on bass and Elvis Johnson on drums. Gary Christiansen also did a great job playing drums on "Rocket 88" and "Going Home."

This CD is presently out of print and unavailable.