PHIL
MULFORD
BASS
BIOG
I grew up in a Musical household playing piano from around about 8 years old and then trumpet, attaining Grade 6 in both. At the age of 13 I joined a bass, drums, guitar trio, playing Beatles covers and a few originals at School. This was followed by the Rotunda Youth Big Band, based in Slough where we played many Gigs and I gained some valuable experience reading charts and playing the classic Big Band repertoire.
Next up was Jazz Rock Band ‘Juvessance’, a fantastic opportunity playing challenging material with some experienced players. We played regular gigs on the London circuit, in Surrey and in Berkshire. After this came a Jazz Funk group ‘First Approach’ which played some classic tracks from George Benson, Lonnie Liston Smith, and Jeff Lorber along with quite a few originals and then a great pop Band called ‘Between The Sheets’ with which we recorded quite a few original songs over the bands lifespan.
Whilst in 'Juvessance' I was extremely lucky to meet a great young drummer named Ralph Salmins and he became my most regular rhythm section partner at the time. While he was studying at the Guildhall School of Music we recorded together in the Studio.
From 1981 I was studying Engineering at Kingston College and completed the 3 year apprenticeship in 1984. Just as my apprenticeship finished Ralph recommended me to bandleader Ken Mackintosh and I literally jumped ship to take on some cruises on the QE2 liner. Suddenly I was a Pro Musician!
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In late 1984 I toured with the Soul Band 'Push' (not the Acid Jazz outfit) and US singer Booker Newberry III. I then played for the Soul/Disco legend Gloria Gaynor for a couple of years, along with the Drifters and many similar groups. I joined NYJO for a year or so in 1986-87 which introduced me to many great musicians that I still play with today.
In 1987 fellow musician and guitarist Paul Dunne recommended me to the saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson to play in her group Paraphernalia, which included her husband, the legendary drummer, Jon Hiseman and the brilliant Peter Lemer on keyboards. I played on 3 albums with them, many Tours and Gigs over the next 9 years and had a great time touring the UK and Europe, playing incredible, challenging music.
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I also played with a great Hotel/Function Band with Bandleader Phil Blackwell during the late 80s and early 90s. It featured the wonderful Mal Maddock on keyboards, drummers Barry Cook and Steve Sanger and Hazel Fernandez on vocals. We had a lot of fun and it filled up the bank account and the diary.
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Next up came freelancing including my first forays into Theatre. It was a great privilege to Dep for the great bassist John Mole in ‘Starlight Express’ at the Apollo Theatre, Victoria from 1988 and this got me started.
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In 1988 I formed the Fusion Group System X with Paul Weimar, Noel Langley, Simon Hale, Paul Dunne and Frank Tontoh, featuring all original compositions by the Band. In 1992 we recorded our CD 'Beat The System' which was released in 1993. It was well received and over the next 5 years we played many Gigs together. The album reached #2 in the Jazz FM/Tower Records chart only being held off the top place by Pat Metheny!
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In 1989 I auditioned and got the Gig with the incredibly talented musician, bassist and songwriter Gail Ann Dorsey. I felt extremely honoured to play bass for her in a lineup where she played guitar and fronted the Band.
I have very fond memories of the Gigs and the fantastic Band.
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In 1991 I played my first ‘West End ‘Chair’ in ‘A Tribute To The Blues Brothers’ at the Whitehall Theatre which lasted until 1992. For the next 5 years along with some session work I played for the great singer Elkie Brooks. There was a Tour each year where we would play more than 60 gigs with a couple of weeks rehearsal. It was a great experience and Elkie remains one of my favourite singers.
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‘Jamming Frequency’ a jazz/fusion album of originals was released in 1995 by the Mulford/Macfarlane Group, a Band that I put together with the great Scottish guitarist and fellow Paraphernalia member, Malcom Macfarlane on Bridge Records. It was another great opportunity to be involved with the writing and recording process.
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After this in 1997 it was back to West End Shows and I was on a bit of a roll. The productions were ‘Saturday Night Fever’ at The Palladium (1998-99) , ‘The Beautiful Game’ (2000) at The Cambridge Theatre, ‘The Full Monty’ (2001) at The Prince of Wales, 'Tell Me On A Sunday' (2002) at the Gielgud Theatre, ‘Avenue Q’ (2006) at The Wyndhams Theatre and then ‘Dirty Dancing’ (2006) at The Aldwych Theatre.
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A highlight in 2000 was a short Tour of Italy with the legendary Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. It was an incredible privilege to play some of his great material along with some Genesis classics to incredible audiences and eat lots of amazing food!
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In the mid 2000s I started to pick up quite a few sessions for the music producer of X-Factor and Britains’ Got Talent, Nigel Wright. There were also peripheral albums to these Shows as well as a host of live TV Audition Shows for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to find the lead for his latest productions. Recording the live rhythm section on a weekly basis was a great way to hone my Studio chops. Sessions could range from 7 musicians, a Big Band right up to a full orchestra.
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In 1999 the second Mulford/Macfarlane Group album ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ was released featuring vocals by Jacqui Hicks on Jazzizit Records. This was a more commercial effort than before and we had great fun putting it together.
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In 2002 I was playing in the house Band at a Club called Noble Rot in Mayfair. We had some great Soul singers come down and it was here I was introduced to Soul/Rock legend Lewis Taylor. We played a few Gigs here before the release of his album 'Stoned Part 1' and we recorded a Radio 2 Session for Giles Peterson's 'Worldwide' programme as well as playing hugely successful Gigs at Subterranea and the Jazz Cafe. The house band was the stellar team of Pete Adams on keyboards, Dave Ital on guitar and Ash Soan on drums.
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Around the early 2000s I was working for M.D. Mike Dixon depping on the Show 'Grease' at the Dominion Theatre. Mike also M.D'd a whole host of TV Shows I played on, 3 series of Jerry Springer' chat Show, a 'Divas' TV Show with Chaka Khan and many others. Mike also M.D'd the 2006 Princes Trust Gig at the Tower of London and I played for Lionel Ritchie, Annie Lennox, The Bee Gees, Will Young and a whole host of other singers on the bill.
I got to play quite a few times for Lionel on two ITV Shows 'An Audience With..', and an album launch Show along with a Gig at the Emirates Stadium for Capital Radio and two Radio 2 live sessions for Ken Bruce's Show.
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Other projects were a brace of great albums for Nigerian Soul maestro Ola Onabule which were a great experience to record and contribute to. From 1999 'Precious Libations For Silent Gods, 2002 'Ambitions For Deeper Breadth', 2011 'Seven Shades Darker', from 2015 'It's The Peace That Deafens' and from 2019 Pointless.
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For 2011 I had the opportunity to return to play with the legendary Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett on a UK and European Tour. It was a great experience, we played many great tunes of Steve's, some Genesis classics and John Wetton guested on vocals with us which was a unforgettable experience.
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After ‘Dirty Dancing’ finished its 5 year run in 2011 after a bit of freelancing I went into ‘The Commitments’ at The Palace Theatre in 2013 followed by ‘Kinky Boots’ until early 2019. During these years I played on quite a few albums and the occasional Film session including the iconic film 'Pride' and 'King of Thieves' with Michael Caine.
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Released in 2016 ‘The Boaters Project’ was put together, an album of covers played by the Quartet that played at the Kingston Riverside Pub, Jacqui Hicks on vocals, Simon Carter on keyboards, 'Frosty Beedle' on drums, some special guests, Freddy V and Brent Carter from The Average White Band and my longtime friend Malcolm Macfarlane on guitar. We had been playing at the Pub for many years and felt we should document our set.
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Covid took care of 2020 and 2021 until June when I played ‘Hairspray’ at the London Colosseum until October and then went straight into ‘The Drifters Girl’, a new musical at The Garrick Theatre, with the amazing Beverley Knight. The Show closed in October 2022.
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More recently I have been depping around in the Shows Lion King, Mamma Mia, Moulin Rouge and a new one Mrs Doubtfire as well as playing Club dates with Carl Hudson's George Duke Tribute 'Reach For It' and 'The Royal Jam' a Crusaders Tribute.
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I play regularly with my 10 Piece Band 'Thunderthumbs' a Tribute to the incredible Louis Johnson from
'The Brothers Johnson', whose bass playing featured on hundreds of recordings, notably those by George Benson, Quincy Jones, George Duke, Jeffrey Osborne, Michael Jackson and many more. We play at the 606 Club in
Chelsea, the Hampton Hub Club and The Factory in Worthing.
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After a relative hiatus in releasing my own material my 'From The Vaults Part 1' album is finally ready for release as of 16/11/23. The lead out track 'For Dukey, Maurice and Marcus' is out on the streaming websites Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and many more.
