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@dancing james
Am gutted, used to spend a lot of time with Phil.
First came to know him when Alex Attias told me to get down to NHAC for Inspiration Information. It was great, at the time the office I worked at was nearby, I’d go straight there and it’d be Phil, Patrick Forge, possibly myself and a few others for the first couple of hours as they played spiritual jazz music. The night would gradually build up and the crowd was a cosmopolitan mix of west London people, music producers, singers, trust fund kids, gangsters, models soundtracked by house music, soul, boogie, hip hop, broken beat and more. For me it was a musical education and you’d hear tracks from the likes of Bugz in the Attic, De Lata, Neon Phuzion, Kadi, Dego et al being worked and edited week in week out to see how the crowd responded. The club loved and loathed us, on quiet nights the headz kept the atmosphere up, but we had a permanent guest list of about 60 people which would eat profits on busier nights.
Later on I was working in Ladbroke Grove and he used to record at Fluidity Studios over the road, and I’d pop over in my lunch breaks and after work. Phil really was the Don of West London house, he was always aware of what people were up to, not for gossip but because he cared. So many friends were given guidance on their careers and music. He always had time to share his wisdom, he was always a wise considerate head. We clashed on occasions but were still in contact after I left London, we chatted last autumn and he was in good spirits, he’d settled down in a new relationship and was still getting requests for nice DJ gigs. He was so proud that his son Marvin was making tunes and that Marc’s godfather Dego had done a remix for him. West London was a proper family thing and that is what I’ll miss about Phil, he was pater familias. I’ll also miss his stories, eclectic DJ sets, nights dancing to a sweaty mess, needing to take three of four shirts with me (the mark of a good night was how many sweat soaked t shirts I had in my bag at the end of proceedings).
Fuck I will miss that Restless Soul.