He Would Hate to Miss This Party

Drummer Butch Miles interrupts a phone interview from his home in Austin, Texas, to take another call.

He’s upset when his wife informs him that saxophonist Flip Phillips has died. “Man, I don’t know what to say,� Miles said.

Over his career, the 57-year-old Miles has been associated with everyone from bandleader Count Basie to saxophonist Zoot Sims. He got to know Phillips, the swing-era tenor saxophonist who died Aug. 17 at age 86 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on the busy jazz circuit.

“Flip and I met 15 or 20 years ago,� says Miles, who will be the special guest of the Woody Herman Orchestra, directed by Frank Tiberi, at the West Coast Jazz Party, Friday through Sunday. Phillips was a standout member of Herman’s organization beginning in 1944, the year Miles was born.

“I did a number of parties and jazz cruises with Flip, and I used to call him every few months,� Miles said. “I had the honor of doing an album with him. I went to his 80th birthday concert down in Florida. When they had a tribute for him on his 85th birthday, I was touring with the Basie band. So I went to [Basie orchestra director] Grover Mitchell and said, ‘There’s no way I can miss this thing.’ Grover let me take a four-day leave of absence. I just adored Flip.�

Miles’ enthusiastic, visually exciting style of drumming landed him many gigs. A favorite with singers, he has toured with Mel Torme, Tony Bennett and Lena Horne. He has been known to play everything from Dixieland jazz to avant-garde styles. He served as a studio drummer for Berry Gordy’s Motown label during a ‘70s stint in Detroit. But his favorite kind of jazz is swing.

Miles’ association with bandleader-clarinetist Herman and his Thundering Herd came in the mid-’80s during a European tour. “I shared the bill with the Herd on a tour with ‘The Four Great Tenors’: Bill Perkins, Grover Mitchell, Sal Nistico and Zoot Sims,� he said. “I’d always come out and play two or three tunes with the band. I didn’t get to know Woody as well as some of the guys who’d spent years with him, like Sal and Zoot. But he was a great bandleader, and I just had a ball playing all that wonderful music like ‘The Four Brothers’ and ‘Woodchopper’s Ball.�’

Miles cites Herman’s band as one of his great influences.

“Woody went in a different direction from Basie and Ellington. Like them, he always had a swinging band--that was his main focal point. But it was always a modern band. He was never afraid to record something out of the ordinary, like his ‘Ebony Concerto.’ One of my all-time favorites is the almost jazz-rock version of [Aaron] Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man.’ ... He was a great clarinetist and an underrated vocalist. And he always swung.�

Despite his long connection with the Basie band, Miles has earned most of his credits as a freelance drummer, a direction he began pursuing after stints with pianist Dave Brubeck and Bennett.

“I just wanted to see if I could do it,� Miles said of his solo career. “It was a challenge, and I love a challenge. So many musicians, so many drummers, have been sidemen. A lot have tried to be leaders and it hasn’t worked. The role of leader and role of sideman are two different things.�

As a freelancer, Miles is active in the growing jazz party scene. These intimate gatherings go to the creative roots of jazz, he says, as musicians get together in various jam sessions. “You get a lot of different musicians thrown together in different combos ... and it’s an educational experience. Like working with [pianist] Paul Smith [Miles plays with Smith Sunday evening before sitting in with the Herman Orchestra]. You never know what he’s going to do. It’s like going in a certain direction in a car on a clear road and all of a sudden he turns left on you. I love that kind of thing. You have to be alert and respond. You never know what he’ll do.�

The West Coast Jazz Party is one of the world’s largest, with some 50 musicians performing in front of 700 or more fans who travel from as far away as England, Germany and Brazil.

The event holds special significance for Miles, who attended the first party in 1994 and last year proposed to his wife during the event.

his year’s headliners also include saxophonist Scott Hamilton, vocalist Jane Monheit, the Four Freshman and the Frank Capp Juggernaut. Other musicians include pianist Alan Broadbent, guitarist Henry Johnson, vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, drummer Lewis Nash, clarinetist Ken Peplowski and trumpeter Bobby Shew.

“Over three days, you make friends, not just with the musicians but with the people in the audience as well,� Miles says. “Being with friends, that’s what it’s all about.�

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The West Coast Jazz Party will be Friday-Sunday at the Irvine Marriott , 18000 Von Karman Ave.; 7 p.m. nightly. Saturday poolside performances, noon-3 p.m. Sunday Jazz Brunch Cruise, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Three-day passes, including pool and cruise sessions, $250-$275. Individual event tickets, $52-$60. (949) 759-5003.