Rufus Philpot

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Rufus Philpot is a bass guitarist.

In 2002, 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. While 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, or 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 drummer Joel Rosenblatt.

In 2004, word reached Virgil Donati and Derek Sherinian that a young bassist of British descent was moving to L.A., and so it was that Rufus came to join the select few bassists such as Jimmy Johnson, Ric Fierabracci, and Dave LaRue to hold the formidable bass chair with Planet X. Rufus also featured recorded on a track with Allan Holdsworth, Simon Phillips and Jerry Goodman for Derek Sherinian's 2004 album Mythology.

Rufus can also be found touring the U.S. with the British acid jazz group Down to the Bone and playing locally with such virtuosi as Steve Weingart, Tony Macalpine, Brandon Fields, Joel Taylor and Mitch Forman.

He is also a clinician for La Bella strings and and most recently an endorsee for Ibanez Basses, having designed custom fretted and fretless basses for himself in addition to using a stock "Roadgear" fretted model live and in magazine advertisements.

• The Ask Rufus Philpot forum at Talkbass.com Forums