Glenn Phillips is an incredibly original and gifted guitarist that has managed to maintain his artistic integrity and freedom throughout his 30-year career, which is no small accomplishment. Not surprisingly he's paid the price for staying outside of the mainstream. He has made some incredible music that has only met with moderate success not getting much beyond cult status. Phillips is very much a kindred spirit of today's jamband scene. He's always been on the edge musically and from a business perspective. He and his still band are still out and playing great instrumental music. In fact, a month ago the Atlanta-based Phillips sat in with Project Object for two gigs, one in Atlanta and one in Athens.

Phillips (not to be confused with the Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket) began his career in the late '60s playing with the extremely eclectic Hampton Grease Band. The Grease band consisted of Phillips on guitar and saxophone, Harold Kelling on guitar and vocals, Bruce Hampton (yes, the Colonel!) on vocals and trumpet, Mike Holbrook on bass and Jerry Fields took care of percussion duties. The band only released one double album, Music To Eat. The album, despite its obvious quality, is purported to have been the second worst selling album on Columbia at the time of its release in 1971. The disc was an adventurous effort full of bizarre, but spirited instrumental work. Three of the album's seven cuts were 20-minutes long, which was not exactly commonplace back then. The album was reissued on the Legacy label back in 1996 and is well worth checking out, especially those with a keen sense of musical adventure. (Phillips also resurrected the band (sans Hampton) for a show last year to celebrate his 50^th birthday.)

Phillips played with the Grease Band for six years before it broke up in 1973. That same year Phillips suffered personal tragedy when his father committed suicide. Despite the serious loss Phillips continued to write songs even though he felt there was no outlet for them as he recalled, "I really wanted to turn all this emotional stuff into something positive." And that's exactly what he did with the recording of his debut all-instrumental album Lost At Sea. Of course, Phillips got no interest from any labels, but figured that he'd put the album out himself, even though he had no notion of how to go about that task. With no small amount of effort he got the whole thing together and started selling the albums out of his house and the back of his truck at gigs. Now, this was 1975 and not too many people were doing this kind of grass roots stuff. Nonetheless he had is biggest success with this album, thanks in part to UK disc jockey who sparked much interest in the UK after playing the disc on his show. Shortly thereafter the Virgin Records (a new label at the time) signed him and released the album. Rather than ramble on about the usual record company hassles that came with the deal I'd to talk a little about this true lost classic.

The album was recorded on shoestring budget and featured 11 instrumental cuts. At the time the band consisted of Holbrook from the Grease Band, Bill Rea on acoustic guitar, Sant Ram on piano, vibes and marimba, Jimmy Presmanes on drums and John Carr Harriman contributed cello. Jerry Fields from the Grease Band also played drums on one track.

Listening to this album over 25 years after its release it still sounds remarkably fresh and not dated at all. In fact, it could easily be taken for a new release by an up and coming jam band. It also still retains that incredible sense of originality that made it so endearing first time around. The songs are a strange juxtaposition of structure and improvisation. But the most striking aspect of the disc is Phillips guitar playing which is as much about tone, texture and feeling than it is about flashy pyrotechnics. He a technically brilliant player and also an emotional one. Phillips songs truly don't need words. The frantic two-minute opener says an incredible amount in such a short time with his spiraling meaty leads that are economical but effective.

"I Feel Better Already" finds Phillips stretching out with a mix sinewy leads that are offset by fluid piano runs. "Dogs" is an extremely sophisticated piece of music which begins with melodic interplay of cello and piano before Phillips adds his guitar which begins with pastoral tones that has him using the volume controls to obtain effects. Then the song builds in intensity as he unfolds flurries of ascending and descending runs that have both tenacity and melodic content.

Even today this album and Phillips's playing really do not sound quite like anyone else. Witness the lush sounds of "Lenore" which has Phillips wringing out some inventive tones as he bends multiple strings and creates great effects. Other highpoints on the album the buoyant "Jimmy Klein" which shows the breadth of his playing with its more avant garde feel, and the harder edged "Hubbler" which again shows this guy can do more in two minutes than most can in 20!

Of course, Lost At Sea has been long deleted, as, I'm afraid, so has much of the rest of Phillips catalog. But fear not, the entire album was included on the two-CD Echoes (ESD) which was a compilation of music from the year's 1975-1985. The album contains the Lost at Sea album in its original running order, most of his second album, Swim In the Wind as well as selections from six other albums. The disc contains 147 minutes of adventurous and original music and offers a perfect introduction to this great overlooked player. It also shows that originality and quality are the prime motivations for Phillips music. Other standouts on the compilation are the stunning interplay of guitar and banjo on "Sunspoon" which has a very jazz feel and wouldn't sound out of place on a Bela Fleck album and the more tenacious "Bradford" with its muscular riffs. But really there is just so much good music on this album.

Phillips last album was the excellent Walking Through Walls, which was released a couple of years ago on the short-lived Shotput label. He currently has a new album that he is shopping to labels. Over the years Phillips has also appeared in a variety of other albums including several by Henry Kaiser, most notably Kaiser's Those Who Know History Are Doomed to Repeat It. In this album Kaiser and Phillips jam up a storm on a superb live version that couples the Grateful Dead's "Dark Star" and "The Other One."

In addition, he contributed to the Hendrix Tribute album in 1990 on "If Six Was Nine" along with Bob Weir and Kaiser. The late Lowell George was a big fan of Phillips playing which should give you an idea of his caliber. There's also an unreleased album in the can that he recorded with Henry Kaiser, Guitar Party, which consists of some loose jamming around '60s songs by Jefferson Airplane, Tim Buckley and more.

Phillips has made some great music that has never reached the kind of audience that it deserves and ironically it fits in more today than it did when it was first released, so give it a listen second time around. Most of the albums are hard to find but many including Echoes are available through Phillips's website: www.angelfire.com/ga2/glennphillips The band is still actively playing, albeit mostly in the Atlanta area with odd forays in the neighboring states and the odd sojourn to the NorthEast. If you get the chance go to a live show, you will be truly amazed.