Phil Wigfall

Performing Jazz Saxophonist

United States

My name is Phil Wigfall. I was born Feb. 16, 1964 in Oklahoma City, OK. My father was in the Air Force, and my mother was a Licenced Practical Nurse. We moved from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas when my father got his transfer to Nellis Air Force Base just outside Vegas. There we've stayed from 1971 to now.

It wasn't long after we moved to Vegas, that I began to get interested in music. My older brother, Michael had just bought Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" album. The first time I heard that record, I knew I wanted to be a musician. At age 9, my parents bought me the alto saxophone I so desperately wanted. Though the salesmen at the music store suggested that I start on clarinet, my parents gave in to my begging and bought the saxophone.

My folks had great music in the house for me to listen to. Great jazz musicians like Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, The Crusaders, Grover Washington Jr., and Charlie Parker. To this day, those artists still have an emotional impact on my life. Not just as a musician, but as a person. They changed the way I thought about the world. After a while, the excitement of playing the saxophone wore off and I wanted to quit. My mother wasn't having it. She insisted that I keep playing. Today, I am grateful she made me stick with it.

After high school, I enrolled at UNLV then later, transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston. It was a great learning experience being on my own for the first time and being in a more aggressive music environment kept me focused on practicing.