Jazz Legends: SIMON PHILLIPS • Protocol V feat: Alex Sill, Ernest Tibbs,Otmaro Ruiz & Jacob Scensey

Legendary drummer Simon Phillips has spent over four decades demonstrating exceptional versatility across jazz, rock, and fusion genres. His performance is defined by technical precision, raw power, and deep emotional expression in any musical context. By his early twenties, he had already collaborated with major artists including Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Pete Townshend, Al Di Meola, Jon Anderson, Jan Hammer, Stanley Clarke, Jon Lord, Mike Oldfield, Brian Eno, and others. High-profile recordings and tours quickly followed featuring Mick Jagger, Asia, The Who, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani, and many more. The untimely passing of drummer Jeff Porcaro led to Phillips joining Toto for twenty-one years from 1992 until 2014, during which he released ten albums and undertook numerous world tours. In this period, he also contributed to projects led by Steve Lukather, Michael Schenker, Derek Sherinian, and others. His own compositions and group concept began coalescing with the Protocol II album in 2013. Since then three additional Protocol releases have been issued, culminating with Protocol V in 2022. The current lineup includes longtime bassist Ernest Tibbs, veteran keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz (formerly of John McLaughlin), saxophonist Jacob Scesney, and guitarist Alex Sill.