FEATURED ARTIST: PHIL EMERSON

Phil Emerson has been surrounded by and obsessed with the guitar since the age o 12.  He was one of those people who knew at an early age
what his life's passion would be - guitars - and the music
played on them.  The early days were surf bands, then the
Fillmore/Avalon ballroom music scene in the SF bay area
from Ô65-Ô68.

Phil's family moved to Hawaii around 1968.   With his brother, Ken, Phil got interested in Hawaiian music.  Phil was already finding old guitars and fixing them up, and Ken was finding old Hawaiian 78 rpm records and was already learning the technique involved in this amazing "forgotten" style of Hawaiian music.  In the early days, before slack key guitar and Hawaiian music became popular again, the individual styles of slack key techniques and tunings were closely kept secrets, and were not shared - same with the old steel guitar techniques.  By the late 1960's, not many people were left playing these amazing sounds.  Some, like the hot "Sol Hoopii/Benny Mawahi" styles were extinct by this time.  No one knew how to play like this anymore.  Ken and Phil relearned these styles and techniques right off of the original 78 rpm records.

The family moved back to the mainland, and in the mid 1970's ended up in Santa Cruz, California, playing more and more of the old style Hawaiian and hot swing styles.  Bob Brozman moved to Santa Cruz at this time also.  It was quite a sight - Bob just burnin' on his old Style O National, and across the street, Ken and Phil playing old 1920's "commie" tunes with an old saw player, Tom Scribner, who used a violin bow.  Guitar, steel guitar and musical saw...what a sound. Ken and Phil recorded a swing steel tune and sent it to a Hawaii song contest.  Everyone flipped...and thought they were old timers messing with them.  They got to play with all of the Hawaiian greats. Had a trio with Moe Keale and recorded an album with him in 1980.  Played a few trio gigs with Sol Bright, Sr.  That was one hot trio with Sol on bass.  They played with Gabby Pahinui, Sonny Chillingsworth, Raymond Kane, etc.  It was an amazing time and Hawaiian music started coming back.  Ken stayed in Hawaii while Phil, with Judy Allen - she was the Emerson's manager and signed them to their first LP- started a vintage guitar shop in 1982 and Phil and Judy have been doing that ever since.  While they worked the shop and restored, repaired and sold old guitars, Phil kept playing and learning new styles - standards, chord melody, the music of Oscar Moore, Charlie Christian, Kenny Burrell, and many more.  Phil didn't perform much anymore, but studied and learned the whole time on the original guitars used on the original recordings - old acoustic Gibson L-5s, old Charlie Christian electric archtops, old Epiphone Masterbilt Deluxes (you can hear them miles away,,,the best carvetop jazz guitar of all).

Judy made sure Phil didn't quit playing and she, along with their long time friend, Carl Zerbe, kicked around the idea of using the old guitars with modern recording techniques.  The Kokomo Music guitar collection was formed and Carl started his record label.  Over the past four years, Phil has spent hundreds of hours "exploring" the sounds of the old guitars.  He has written tunes and arranged old classic tunes to play on these guitars.

Phil's first solo CD, "Phil's Guitars", is the culmination of ceaseless work.  Approximately 90 songs were recorded and 12 made the grade.  Phil wanted the guitars to sound as natural as possible, like he was playing them in your living room.  Click Here to listen to, and learn more about, this wonderful CD.

Phil's second CD with Kokomo, "Bar Pickups & Flat-wound Strings", builds upon his first; and is extraordinarily beautiful.  His interpretation and performance of the songs is a pure joy!  Click Here to listen to, and learn more about, this exciting new CD.

There are differences in volume and "dynamics" from tune to tune, but that's because the guitars themselves are very different from one another.  To get a polished, "professional" level of sound on this CD meant compressing the sound, and that was unacceptable - the guitars must sound as natural as possible. This CD succeeds in creating the authentic, unaltered sounds of these guitars.

Many more CDs will be recorded with the Kokomo Guitar Collection. Also, after almost a quarter of a century since their first LP, Phil and Ken will be recording their first CD.  These are exciting times.  Many special guests will play and many projects will be done.  Check out "kokomomusic.com" for future projects and the latest news.

Phil's next solo CD will be more archtop acoustic and archtop electric arrangements of jass/blues tunes and standards.  Old single coil pickups - heavy flatwound strings, and old tweed amps...they combine to make the amazing sound Phil has been chasing for 40 years.

Phil wants to thank both Judy Allen-Emerson for always believing in and supporting his dreams, and Carl Zerbe for creating Kokomo Music with him so that all this could happen.  They are the two most important reasons this music and the first & second CD's from Phil Emerson now exist.