Jason Phillips, a California native, is a composer, music educator, and church musician who served in the United States Army from 2001 to 2006. He was deployed to Iraq for 18 months from March 2003 to December 2004 where, as an Army journalist and photographer, he wrote about and photographed Military Police soldiers of the 720th Military Police Battalion and 89th Military Police Brigade wherever they performed missions including in Tikrit, Baghdad, Samarra and Fallujah. His military awards include three Army Commendation Medals, the Global War on terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Combat Action Badge, and the 4th Estate Award for placing second in the 2002 FORSCOM Keith L. Ware Competition Story Series Category.

 

Phillips earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from California State University, a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Houston, Master’s degrees in Organ Performance and Composition from the University of Montana, and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Composition from Arizona State University. He has worked as the Director of Choirs and Vocal studies at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, where he also taught Music Literature, Music Appreciation and class piano, and has served as the music director of churches in Texas, Virginia, Montana and Arizona including at the Cathedral of St. Helena in Helena, Montana. Described by Huntley Dent in Fanfare Magazine as “constantly engrossing and emotionally gripping, Phillips’s orchestral work, Three Aspects, was recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2022 and released on Ablaze Records Orchestral Masters, vol. 10. A Soldier’s Symphony, his most recent orchestral work, provides a musical window into his journey from battlefield combat in Iraq to mental health battles at home.  By telling his story through word and music, Phillips hopes to raise awareness of and build support for combat veterans who struggle with psychological war wounds, and to encourage them to seek help in their efforts to heal. Jason lives with his wife and children in Mesa, Arizona, and is the music director at Mountain View Lutheran Church in Phoenix.