Phil Hey

Biography
Articles

Drummer, Phil Hey, was born in 1953 in New York City. Based in the Twin Cities, he is a first call drummer for visiting jazz artists, leads the Phil Hey Quartet, and teaches at the University of Minnesota and at Macalester College. He has performed on more than 50 recordings, including the award-winning "Von Freeman Live!". His studies with jazz legend Ed Blackwell led him to collaborations with such artists as Kenny Barron, Dewey Redman, Charlie Rouse, and Benny Golson. He has also performed with the Great Guitars, Leroy Jenkins, Jay McShann, Buddy Tate, Pepper Adams, Al Cohn, Stacey Kent, Jane Monheit, Kendra Shank, Rebbeca Paris, Nneena Freelon, and many other renowned jazz artists.

Ted Unseth and the Americana Classic Jazz Orchestra: 20th Anniversary Concerts

Read "20th Anniversary Concerts" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
December 14, 2025

The 20th Anniversary Concerts performed by Ted Unseth's Americana Classic Jazz Orchestra were recorded in 1993, when the orchestra's guest artist, alto saxophonist Benny Waters, was a spry 91 years old. And for those who would like to see as well as hear Waters and the orchestra, the audio CD is accompanied by a briefer video that encompasses eight numbers from the concerts, which were held at Bandana Square in St. Paul, Minnesota. The “classic jazz" played by ...

Extended Analysis

Permanent Moonlight—Songs of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett

by David Bittinger
June 15, 2024

Still famed for her “silents" and early retirement from sound movies, lonely star Greta Garbo once conjured a dreamy fantasy of “permanent moonlight" in a letter to someone who was about as enigmatic a creative icon as she was, Noël Coward. In 2012 singer Maud Hixson came across that Garbo letter while reviewing personal effects of Coward's at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. She attended that exhibit with Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, a legendary composer ...

Album Review

JC Sanford: Imminent Standards Trio Vol. 1

Read "Imminent Standards Trio Vol. 1" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
July 18, 2021

Trombone-led trios are few and far between, but Minnesota-based JC Sanford, a protégé of the late great Bob Brookmeyer, gives it a go with bassist Jeff Bailey and drummer Phil Hey on Imminent Standards Trio Vol. 1, whose title does not derive from imminent, as in “soon-to-be," but as in “Imminent Brewing," the trio's monthly performing space in Northfield, MN. As for the album's groove, the trio has chosen relaxed, and glides easily through a program comprising ...