R.I.P. Phil Chen

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I can attest to the wonderful and challenging line of Do Ya Think I'm Sexy after this weekend's gig!

RIP Phil Chen. You made the world a better place.

 

[JimK]

(Sigh).
I still recall that Saturday hearing the opening track on Blow By Blow. I was a bass beginner...that track blew my world up.
You do have to play on "1"?!? Huh?
That album is a desert island disc for me...Chen is a big reason for that.

RIP, sir...

 

[BOOG]

It’s loaded now...I asked the mods to fix it...

I tried. No bueno.

 

[TonyP-]

I tried. No bueno.

 

[BOOG]

View attachment 4506706

Awesome! That’s such a cool pic.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

RIP! What a humble guy.

On his wikipedia it says he played the Kingston club circuit (West London). Does anyone know which venues that means? I have played quite a few of the venues in Kingston being from round there so I'm just curious.

 

[kobass]

Sad news. RIP Phil.

 

[DrayMiles]

Didn’t he a Steven Segal own a martial arts school together?

 

[Tony In Philly]

So sad - this loss really hurts.
Phil was a gem, and such a loving, giving, person. I'm fortunate to have known him for almost 40 years, and he positively effected my time in the music biz.

When I first met Phil at the music store I worked at in the early 80's, the first thing he mentioned to me was James Jamerson. He gushed over Jamerson, and implored me to dig into his recordings with Motown (I loved Motown, but I was not familiar with JJ at the time.) It was a cool store with a solid selection of high-end basses. Within the next year or so, we became the top Trace Elliot dealer in the country when TE was first introduced in the U.S. in '84/'85.

In 1985 Phil contacted me to find out if we could provide the bass amplification for the upcoming Chuck Berry/Bo Diddley All-Star Jam which was going to be held at Irvine Meadows in October. This was going to be a big production to be featured on HBO. Phil was going to play bass along with John Lodge of the Moody Blues (Rudy Sarzo was the 3rd bassist in the show) and was to feature about 2 dozen other legendary musicians. With the help of Alan Morgan from Soundwave (the distributor who brought TE to the U.S.,) we provided 4 Trace Elliot stacks for the production (the 4th was used by keyboardist Bill Champlain.) Phil was very appreciative, and we appreciated the opportunity to promote Trace Elliot. Unfortunately, Chuck Berry did not cooperate which lead to HBO scrapping the project and only came out on DVD many years later. More on who was involved and what transpired here: Your Chuck Berry Story
Here's a still of Phil from that show:
View attachment 4505617

In early '86 I was hired as national sales manager of Trace Elliot, and a few months later we opened The Bass Centre L.A., as the sister store to The Bass Centre in London which had opened in '84 (these were the first bass-only stores in the world.) We were very fortunate that this was news, so a few national articles were written about the store early on.

In early '87 I was contacted by a guy named Allan Slutsky, stating he wrote music books under the name Dr. Licks and that he was working on a book about Motown bassist James Jamerson. Allan was looking for some west coast as well as English bassists that he thought may be interested in participating. The contact I provided to Allan was Phil Chen. I shared with him that Phil was the biggest Jamerson fan on the planet, and that he had to be involved. I provided some other local names, and also put him in touch with Barry Moorhouse, the owner of the London store and co-owner of our L.A. store. Barry was instrumental with putting Allan in touch with Paul McCartney, John Entwistle & Pino Palladino.
View attachment 4505630

The book was released in May 1989. We held the public launch party at The Bass Centre (by then in Studio City) on a Saturday, and the private launch party was held the night before at Ray (Ghostbusters) Parker's studio in North Hollywood. Needless to say, Phil was a central figure, as well as the Jamerson Family and Allan Slutsky. Both events were attended by dozens of famous bassists, many of which were involved with the book. Both Phil and I had the same idea, as we both brought Pre-CBS Fender basses to be autographed during these special events. Phil's can be seen in the video in this post. Phil was the first to autograph my bass:
View attachment 4505638

This love and respect for James Jamerson eventually lead to us teaming with the Fender Custom Shop to produce the limited edition James Jamerson Tribute Bass (and Jaco Signature Bass) in '90/'91:
View attachment 4505641

Phil would stop by the shop often, and was always happy to support his fellow bassists. Here's a photo of Phil with Nathan East, Rocco Prestia and Abraham Laboriel after Abe's clinic at the store in 1990:
View attachment 4505644

R.I.P., Phil Chen, and thank you. You will be missed.

Great story, Chris. Thanks!

 

[nixdad]

Great story, Chris. Thanks!

Thank you, Tony. I appreciate the comment.

 

[FishDub]

Damn..loved his stuff with Rod Stewart, especially that Pbass on "do ya think Im sexy"

 

[woodyng2]

Sorry to hear this sad news.
In addition to enjoying his recorded work, I did once get to see him in a show in a Memphis club.
He was part of a touring band supporting Dion, Dave Edmunds, and Kim Wilson.
That show ranks among my all-time top favorites, in no small part due to the cracking tightness of the band. (especially the rhythm section). Phil was very present in the mix, and really impressed upon me how bass could be melodic, supportive, and highly rhythmic at the same time. Also, he just beamed positivity while making it all look effortless.
I don’t actually remember who the drummer was, thinking it may have been Rockpile’s drummer.(?)
An unexpected surprise was the appearance of the Vaughn Brothers for the encores.