Friday, February 20, 2015

Guitarist, Vocalist David Phelps one third of International Orange is a journey man musician par excellent. Currently a member of Peter Apfelbaum’s 11-piece band The New York Hieroglyphics,  Sean Kershaw's New Jack Ramblers, sub jam host at The Bitter End Jam. and part of a wardrobe of guitarists musicians like Mark Greenberg, John Kruth, Hope Debates and Evan Lurie call to give them the sounds they might need or want.

David grew up in Denton, Texas, the home of the University of North Texas, formerly known as North Texas State.  As a youngster, he started playing the bass clarinet and later played in bands with many of the children of North Texas faculty members.  David, along with his twin brother, bassist Drew Phelps, attended North Texas, studying with Rich Matheson and guitar guru Jack Peterson, among others.  David then traveled to Alberta, Canada where he studied at the Banff Centre with jazz greats Dave Liebman and Dave Holland (both Miles Davis alumni).  He also studied with John Abercrombie, Steve Coleman and Kenny Wheeler.

David has toured the world playing with many musicians of every stripe including Lily White, New Orleans legend Henry Butler, Adam Klipple and Drive-By Leslie, Rob Miller and Prime Meridian, as well as his own group International Orange. Please visit internationalorange.bandcamp.com to see our page and listen to his current musical project.

David has appeared on television on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with songwriter Jesse Harris, who won a Grammy award for penning the hit Don’t Know Why for Norah Jones’ first CD.  He has recorded for the hit Nickelodeon children’s TV show The Backyardigans, and recorded with Public Enemy on the soundtrack for movie He Got Game.

David has appeared on a number of albums as a sideman including CDs by Peter Apfelbaum, Jim Cifelli, Adam Klipple and Drive By Leslie, Lily White, and George Kilby Jr.  He has recorded two albums of his own, Spaghetti Eastern and the recently released Eclectic, with his band David Phelps and the Eclectic Troubadors.

The list of musicians that David has played/recorded/toured with is quite extensive and includes:  John Medeski, Dafnis Prieto, Ben Monder, Tony Scherr, Peter Apflebaum, Chris Wood, Jesse Harris, Kenny Wollesen, Michael Blake, Adam Klipple and Drive By Leslie, Jeff Hirshfield, Scott Colley, Lily White, Stomu Takeshi, Satoshi Takeshi, Steven Bernstein, Chris Dahlgren, Peter Epstein, Bruce Saunders, Teddy Kumpel, Evan Lurie, John Lurie, Steve Cardenas, Henry Butler, Pinetop Perkins, Rob Miller, Bruce Arnold, Mark Feldman, Willard Dyson, Mark Kimbrell, Scott Neumann, Rob Garcia, Diego Voglino, Marcos Rojas, Mike Sim, Andy Middleton, Heather Bennett, Jim Whitney, John Hebert, Kirk Driscoll, Thomas Paul, Kiki Hawkins, Michael Jeffrey Stevens, Bennett Paster, Eric Udel, John Gentry Tennyson, Matt Darriau, Cheryl Pyle, Tony Mason, Tim Luntzel, Brad Albetta, Kevin Jenkins, J.D. Duval, Tim Otto, Steve Holly, The Itinerants, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Rusty Cloud’s Skillet, and The Second Step.

David currently resides in Cold Spring Harbor, New York with his wife Donna Gronachan