By Duane Gallop

He is a very renowned saxophonist signed to Michael Jordan’s record label – Hidden Beach records (home of Jill Scott & BeBe Winans) -- who just happens to have his own brand of saxophones coming out at the end of the year. He has his own brand of sneakers coming out too. And he’s the first musician with a Jordan brand endorsement. Oh, did I mention that he was on his way to rehearse with Prince for an upcoming spring tour?

Mike Philips was at Sam Ash music store when we spoke. Personable and friendly, our conversation was frequently interrupted by various well wishers until Mike found peace and quiet at another store. There our conversation continued for a fraction of the hour he had available before he was off to rehearsal.

“I had a lot of offers from many labels,” he said. “All of them bigger than Hidden Beach. But what caught my eye about the company was their concept about music for people with discriminating tastes. That clearly means that it’s not music that’s marketed from a huge perspective, but it’s music that people will love.

“I mean, I could do the Kenny G thing in a minute and make a whole bunch of dough, but they brought into the musical vision of still keeping the integrity of who I was as an individual. That’s a little bit more important than making money to me.”

For Mike, a Mount Vernon, New York native, it’s all about being authentic or, in contemporary vernacular, “Keeping it real.” He doesn’t believe in playing over Hip Hop beats to boost sales if you’ve never listened to Hip Hop before.

“You have a lot of people who have nothing to do with Hip Hop,” he said, “and they live somewhere and they say, ‘Oh that sounds really cool so let’s do it.’ But what I do is authentic because I live it.”

“I grew up playing with Blackstreet,” he said. “I did Missy Elliot, worked with Puff, worked with Coolio. So that whole aspect of staying true to Hip Hop and R&B was something that I had to keep true to who I was as a musician. But also going on the road with Wayman Tisdale, working with Rachelle Ferrell and other people allowed me to still, within the marketplace, be out there as a jazz musician as well.”

Ah yes, the marketplace, where Mike Philips has learned how to maximize his talent. His is the first non-athletic contract within the Jordan brand or Nike -- Jordan’s nearly ubiquitous parent company. He hopes there are more artists to follow him.

“It’s about the corporate entities understanding that the artists have such a high level of visibility that’s highly marketable,” Mike said. “You look at NASCAR, where I’ve done the National Anthem on a few occasions. They net about 20 million viewers. Now when I wear that headband and I’m playing the National Anthem for 90 seconds, a 30-second commercial on NASCAR would cost a grip. Now you times that by three and the fact that when I’m playing, their intellectual property, which is that (Jordan) logo, is being seen for 90 seconds. Any corporate person could add that up!”

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