Rufus Philpot - Bass, Acoustic Bass
Eight years ago, bassist Rufus Philpot moved from his native land of London, England to the United States to pursue his musical vision. His first port of call was New York City. Whilst there, he rapidly became a much sought after bassist, with a reputation for his complete versatility, musicality and total command of the instrument, whether on fretted, fretless, four, five or six string…..
Amongst the musicians he toured/recorded with there were Randy Brecker,Bill Evans, Jeff Golub, Dave Samuels, Mark Whitfield,
Minu Cinelu, David Gilmore, Buddy Williams,
Al Di Meola and Joel Rosenblatt. Rufus was also invited to join the faculty of the world renowned Drummers/Bass Collective. In addition to teaching advanced classes with Tania Maria drummer Kim Plainfield, he performed regular seminar concerts with his own trio, JVR-featuring Spyro Gyra & Michel Camilo drummer Joel Rosenblatt.
In 2004,word reached Virgil Donati and Derek Sherinian that a certain bassist of British descent was moving to L.A., and so it was that Rufus came to join the select few bassists to hold the formidable bass chair with Planet X.
Rufus can also be found touring the U.S. with British Acid Jazz group Down to the Bone-and playing locally with such virtuosi as Scott Henderson, Steve Weingart, Tony Macalpine, Brandon Fields, Joel Taylor and Mitch Forman.
In 2006, Rufus and Virgil Donati were asked to headline the International Bass N Drum Day in Stockholm ,Sweden-here they closed the entire weekend, and other notable performers included Meshuggah and Etienne M’ Bappe of the Zawinul Syndicate.
2007 saw Rufus touring with his own Band, K.P.H. featuring Greg Howe on guitar and Will kennedy on the drums. September of this year saw Bass Player publishing the Jaco Pastorius Memorial Issue-and inside was a two page Masterclass feature with Rufus!
Rufus was also featured in Bass Player Magazine’s June 2005 Issue and also the August edition (full page Ibanez feature) in both Bass Player and Bass Guitar magazine.
In July 2005 he completed a major tour of Australia –including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide-with the Virgil Donati Group(also featuring Tony MacAlpine and Steve Weingart) and a U.S. tour with Narada Recording Artists Down to the Bone.
2006 and 2007 saw him touring Poland and Greece with his own band K.P.H.,-plus shows in Los Angeles with Scott Henderson, Scott Kinsey, Mitch Forman, Will Kennedy, Kirk Covington and continuing Masterclass work at M.I. and L.A.M.A…
Most recently he has been featured in the September and October 2008 issues of Bass Player.
Rufus continues to perform Masterclasses at Los Angeles Music Academy, & Musician’s Institute ,L.A. and recently recorded tracks for Derek Sherinian’s (Dream Theater,Billy Idol) solo c.d. alongside Allan Holdsworth and Simon Phillips.
2009 saw Rufus performing at the Bass Player Live event in Hollywood, where he was a featured Masterclass Clinician & featured Rufus giving performances with the CPT Kirk Trio, feat. Kirk Covington from Tribal Tech..
He also performs with a new trio with Scott Henderson and drummer Andy Sinise..
2010 finds Rufus as Musical Director/Band Leader for acid jazz group Down to the Bone, and continuing to play with Kirk Covington trio, Scott Henderson, Tizer (feat. Karen Briggs & Chieli Minucci) and many more ….
Rufus has performed /recorded with such artists as:
Allan Holdsworth, Tony MacAlpine, Scott Henderson, Jeff Golub, Greg Howe, Mitch Forman, Steve Weingart,Jeff Babko, Gary Husband, Joel Rosenblatt, Chad Wackerman, Virgil Donati, Simon Phillips, Gary Novak, Randy Brecker, Bill Evans, Al Di Meola, Scott Kinsey, Kirk Covington, Bill Evans, Chieli Minucci, Jerry Goodman and David Gilmore.
He is a full endorsing Artist w/
Ibanez basses,
Gallien – Krueger Amplification,
La Bella strings,
And Seymour Duncan Pick ups.