The Phil Lawrence Band
Acoustic Jazz Quartet/Trio
The Phil Lawrence Band plays jazz standards and original compositions on mandolin, acoustic guitar, and 6-string upright bass. Phil Lawrence composes music and plays a vintage 1916 Gibson mandolin, Paul Gruen, a master guitarist, plays the best Django Reinhardt-style guitar on the West Coast, and Dalton Dillingham III plucks and bows his unusual acoustic bass. David LaFlamme, from the premiere San Francisco rock band, It's a Beautiful Day, has recently joined the group. The repertoire incorporates acoustic hot swing instrumentals and original compositions by the band members, who reside in Sonoma County, California, one hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
David LaFlamme recently joined the Phil Lawrence Band (May 2009). His intrigue in the violin started at an early age. In 1945 at the age of four – before he could even read -- he asked for his first violin. By the age of 17, he was recognized for his genius in music, serving as first violin soloist in the Utah Symphony. By the late 60s LaFlamme started as an icon in the San Francisco Fillmore East and West underground music scene, his music growing to an international groundswell in less than three years. LaFlamme's group, It's A Beautiful Day, broke through the pop charts with a platinum album of the same name, forever immortalized by the hit song "White Bird", which stayed on Billboard's Top 10 chart for several weeks.
David LaFlamme and It's a Beautiful Day's second album, Marrying Maiden was followed shortly after by It's A Big Bad Beautiful Day, It's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall, It's a Beautiful Day Today, and 1,001 Nights. All were on the Columbia/Sony Record label. From there, he continued songwriting, and produced solo album White Bird + Inside Out, with Strawberry Records producing Creed of Love.
He has performed with a wide diversity of music's best, including Billy Joel, Santana,
Chuck Berry, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Jimmy Hendrix, and
dozens of other international stars. Years later, his timeless music still resonates as a unique
contemporary blend of rock, bluegrass, and classical music.
International superstar violinist/singer Vanessa-Mae's 2002 world tour opened and
closed with her arrangement of LaFlamme's "White Bird". On the heels of Mae's
unveiling of It’s a Beautiful Day's 60s platinum hit, Lorenza Ponce's debut CD features
yet another version of "White Bird". The emerging solo artist is also a violinist with
Sheryl Crow.
The never-ending international popularity of LaFlamme's music is keeping the artist busy
with performances from New York to his home state of California. LaFlamme's music has
also served as a backdrop and theme music for such major motion pictures as Contact, A
Walk On The Moon, and Jerry Seinfeld’s movie, Comedian.
Paul Gruen
Paul is currently the lead guitarist, filling the “Django” chair, in the Gypsy jazz quartet, “Bo Django,” which has performed at the “Djangofest” at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley as well as numerous other venues, and which features violinist icon, David Laflamme (from “It’s a Beautiful Day”). Singer Dan Hicks has performed with Bo Django at the Throckmorton. Previously, while in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the early 2000’s, Paul performed with Katherine Whelan of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and was principal guitarist with the Europa Jazz Quartet. Paul also currently performs frequently with other professional musicians, including mandolinist, Phil Lawrence.
Dalton Dillingham III 6-String Acoustic Bass
Dalton Dillingham III was born and raised in Petaluma California. He studied cello at the Conservatory at the College of the Pacific, and joined the musicians union in 1946. He has played with the San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Marin, and Nashville Symphonies, the San Francisco Opera, and the MGM Orchestra. He toured Germany in the 1950’s with the 82nd Army Band, and 7th Army Symphony. He played regionally with countless jazz bands and his own group The Dillinghams. Dalton has also composed and recorded numerous songs and jingles for the commercial music industry. With a professional musical career spanning over half a century, Dalton has played at one time or another with many of the jazz luminaries and pop icons of the 20th century including: T-Bone Walker, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Lena Horne, Mose Allison, Mongo Santa Maria, Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, Lester Flat, John Hartford, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Bill Monroe, The Liberace Orchestra, and the Sons of the Cajun Crawdaddy with Link Davis Jr. Dalton has contributed to five Grammy award winning recordings, most recently with TomWaits on his Mule Variations CD.
Joe Yamamoto Violin/Guitar
Joe Yamamoto is a phenomenal musician who displays his virtuosity on violin and guitar. Born in Tokyo, Joe showed an affinity for all types of American music, especially jazz. He was strongly influenced by the violin style of Stephan Grappelli and the Hot Club of France. Joe moved to San Francisco in 1985 and since that time has worked with many of the San Francisco Bay Area's leading artists, including Phil Lawrence.
Phil Lawrence has been playing mandolin since 1978 when he bought his first round back mandolin on a whim. He began studying with Rudy Cipolla, the San Francisco Italian-American composer and mandolinist. He quickly learned to play all different styles of music—bluegrass, folk, rock, jazz, reggae, and even klezmer. Phil produced and published independent recordings of his original compositions in the 1980’s and 1990’s under his own label, Mandolinimal Productions. In 2004 Phil was invited by David Grisman and Mike Marshall to work as an assistant instructor at David Grisman’s Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, Ca. and he performed on stage with David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Chris Thile, Mike Compton, Don Stiernberg, and Radim Zenkl. His Mandolin Mezzotints CD is still available. Phil plays a 1916 vintage Gibson F2 mandolin, a 1988 Martin D-28 guitar, and blues harmonica. Currently he performs with The Phil Lawrence Band , an acoustic jazz quartet/trio, and with Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble. Phil makes his home in Sonoma County, California, one hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge, where he teaches mandolin between gigs.
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