Phil Magallanes - Monday Night Jazz Cabaret

1265 1st Street,Sarasota FL 34236

05 December, 2022

Description

Excerpts from a 2018 interview by Paul Wilborn, Executive Director of the Palladium in St. Petersburg.One great thing about the growth of this area – especially in the arts – is the talented folks who are choosing St. Pete and the Tampa Bay area as their home base., One of the best is Phil Magallanes, an incredible pianist and arranger. Phil’s musical resume is long and stellar....PalladiumPaul: Phil you’ve worked with some of the best players in the business. Most recently Al Di Meola. Can you talk about playing with Al and Arturo Sandoval in particular? What are they looking for when they hire you?Phil Magallanes: Well, I’ve been super fortunate. Both those gigs were like going to school!Al Di MeolaGumbi Ortiz (Al Di Meola’s percussionist for over thirty years) was kind enough to recommend me when the keyboard chair in Al’s band became vacant. Al’s music is really complex and requires laser-precision, as well as feel. So I guess he needed someone with the discipline and dedication to transcribe and learn all the parts (literally took me 1000 hours!), and the chops to pull it off live. Gumbi and the band then trained me for an entire summer how to play some of the hardest music on the planet at the highest level. Without a doubt, it was the greatest musical challenge of my life and a great learning experience!Arturo SandovalWorking with Arturo was a dream come true. I was already a huge fan and couldn’t believe it when I got the call to play with him. Arturo needed somebody who could play jazz but also understood Afro-Cuban music. Needless to say, it was immediately clear when I joined the band that I had a lot to learn in both areas! I had two days to learn the entire gig and and then they put me in the deep end of the pool…sink or swim!At the time, I had neither played with Cubans nor experienced fast tempos like that before. (Blues, rhythm changes and Cherokee at 500 bpm…it was like being strapped to side of a rocket ship, hanging on for dear life!) Plus, we had a live DVD to record at the Blue Note in exactly six weeks…no pressure! Needless to say, it was an amazing experience which taught me a lot of great lessons about both music and life.Covid Requirements:The Jazz Club of Sarasota follows CDC guidance regarding Covid safety policies. Facemasks are recommended but not required at this time. This policy could change as community health conditions change.