Meet the Musician

Senior Chief Musician Philip M. Burlin,

Tenor Saxophone

Senior Chief Musician Phil Burlin, a native of Camp Springs, Md., joined the Navy Band in 1991 and is the unit leader of the Commodores. He attended St. Mary’s College of Maryland and later North Texas State University in Denton, Texas, from 1979-1982.   At Western Maryland College in 1985, he directed the saxophone and clarinet quartets and taught jazz improvisation and classical saxophone. He has appeared with the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Jazz Ensemble, the University of Maryland Jazz Ensemble, the Peabody Jazz Underground, the Les Elgart Orchestra, the Gary Thomas Quintet (opening for Miles Davis at the 1986 Eubie Blake Jazz Festival), and as a featured soloist with Electra recording artist, Danny Gatton (1987-1989). In 1988, he received a “Jazz Performance Grant” from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Burlin has been a featured soloist since joining the Navy Band. He has performed with jazz artists such as Charles McPherson, Bob Mintzer, Arturo Sandoval, Marvin Stamm, Stanley Turrentine, Ernie Watts, and Eugene "Snooky" Young at such venues as the Elkhart (Indiana) and Montreux (Detroit) jazz festivals, and conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education in Miami, New York, and Toronto. In addition, he was the producer of the Commodores CD recordings Here and Now and Sessions on M Street and has written numerous compositions and arrangements for the band. His awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and others.