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The Beat Of My Heart, Philip's debut CD, is the result of a deeply personal journey that began with the birth of his daughter, Mariah. "The love I saw in her eyes each day led me to an examination of who I was, who I had been and who I hoped to be. It was suddenly important to me that if something should happen to me, she know something of who I was and by extension, who she is. Every song, every arrangement says something about the way I feel or have felt at some time in my life." His Journey led him to a re-discovery of his Puerto Rican roots, becoming a student of a history, culture, language and music that belong to his father and his father's father before him, in a chain extending to his own daughter. "I've learned I'm part of something that began before me and will live beyond me. Even though the songs on the album were written before I was born, they have a pulse that runs like the blood in my veins. This music, this heritage is the beat of my heart." The extraordinary list of players featured on the album reads like a Who's Who of the most gifted and prominent musicians on the contemporary Latin-Jazz scene including Bobby Franceschini (sax), Brian Lynch and Raul Agraz (trumpets), Bobby Allende (percussion), Chembo Corniel (congas), Ruben Rodriguez (bass) Ricardo Pons (bari sax & flute) and Oscar Hernandez (piano) with award-winning arrangers Ray Santos (Grammy for Linda Ronstadt's Frenesi) and Marty Sheller (Grammy for Mongo Santamaria's Amanecer). Philip is also a successful actor. He is the only actor in Broadway history to lead the cast of Les Miserables as the hero "Jean Valjean" and then a second time as his nemesis "Inspector Javert". He also created principal roles in the Original Casts of Broadway's Tony Award-winning Kiss of the Spiderwoman, and in Paul Simon's ground-breaking The Capeman. He continues to pursue his love of the theatre along with his concert and recording careers in New York City. He is currently at work on his second album.
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