* Born 13 June 1917, Waterbury, Connecticut * Died 24 February 2008, New York City, New York The busiest reed man of the space age pop era, Phil Bodner played on many of the albums recorded in New York studios between the mid-1950s and early 1970s. The bigger challenge may be to find recordings he's not on. Bodner was one of the mainstays of Enoch Light's Command label, along with Tony Mottola, Dick Hyman, Doc Severinson, and Phil Kraus, the anchorman of RCA's Living Jazz series, and the leader of the successful now sound instrumental group, The Brass Ring. Like the other musicians mentioned above, Bodner met the essential prerequisite of superb technical proficiency on his instrument--in his case, the whole gamut of woodwinds. After studying music at New York University, he began working as a professional musician in New York City in the mid-1940s. He spent most of the next three decades running in and out of recording studios, as he became a highly sought-after session musician. He played with Benny Goodman's small combo of the early 1950s, and participated in countless small group jazz recordings with fellow session stars like bassist Milt Hinton and trombonist Urbie Green. He recorded five albums for MGM as a member of the Metropolitan Jazz Quartet, along with Lou and Frank Garisto (piano and drums) and Pat Merola (bass). Enoch Light's Persuasive Percussion series and Ethel Gabriel's Living Jazz series for RCA Camden were just a few of the many, many studio gigs B