Never Say More Than Necessary: Philip Lassiter on Getting the Prince Gig as a Horn Arranger (Episode 35)

Everything you do is an audition.

What do you do when Prince calls? In Episode 35 of The Career Musician, Philip "Philthy" Lassiter tells Nomad exactly what he did: six months of homework, one first class flight to Minneapolis, and a meeting where the smartest move was keeping his mouth shut.

Philip was Prince's horn section leader and trumpet chair, and he has done countless sessions as a horn player and as a horn and string arranger. If you want to know how a horn arranger gets the call, keeps it, and gets paid fairly for it, this episode is full of it.

A late bloomer who kept showing up

Philip grew up a Pentecostal preacher's kid with parents who were careful about what he listened to. Southern gospel at home, and big band cassettes from a family friend. Piano lessons came first. He hated them and wanted to quit, and his mom wouldn't let him. He's grateful now, because that is where he learned harmony.

At Bible college in Lakeland, Florida, he joined a salsa band and learned salsa on piano and trumpet. His first touring gig paid $50 a week, and he spent it on CDs to study on the bus. Then a master's in jazz, and a church music director job in Dallas.

Dallas is where things opened up. He started recording horns on his own experiments in local studios, people kept talking about the horns, and that led to gospel records and eventually working on a Kirk Franklin record. He hired young players from the scene to play at his church, including players who were then still at North Texas and in Snarky Puppy. Later, in Nashville, he lived in saxophonist Jeff Coffin's basement and was there when Jeff got the Dave Matthews Band call.

Six months of homework for Prince

Philip was living in a five story walk-up in Brooklyn, broke, after about ten years of playing on gospel records, when the call came to audition for Prince. The process took six months. He sent a video. Prince loved it and asked for another arrangement. Two horn sections had auditioned, and Prince wanted both, so Philip and another section leader combined them. Philip handled the music side, writing arrangements.

Prince kept sending songs to arrange and record. Philip once spent two weeks on one, recording in his apartment, flying files around to the other horns, all to impress one listener. None of it was paid. That is Everything you do is an audition at its most literal.

When another email arrived with three more songs of homework, he finally picked up the phone to ask, in musician code, where the bread was. Ten minutes later the answer came back: get him here. The next morning he was in a limo, then first class, then walking through velvet curtains at Paisley Park.

The power of saying nothing

Prince shook his hand, said he loved what Philip did on one of the arrangements, and walked him to a conference room. Philip had made a decision on the plane.

"I just didn't say a word. I was not there to talk. I was not there to impress him. He's already impressed with the horns that he heard, so I didn't want to say the wrong thing."

Philip Lassiter, 18:06

Nomad called it out right away: that is discernment. So many of us oversell ourselves when the person in the room is already sold. Philip leaned on a line he had read in a book: never say more than is necessary. Prince talked about the giant horn sections his father used to tell him about. Philip smiled and said "right on." Prince's reply: you'll be very happy with your compensation.

That is Low maintenance / no drama. No pitching, no fanboying. The work had already spoken.

Talk money with management, and with tact

They never talked money with Prince, and Philip's advice is simple: with an artist at that level, you don't. You do the work, and when it is time to talk numbers, you go through management. At one point his section did have to put their foot down. Philip told them it was an honor and a dream come true, but six days a week of 12 to 18 hour days, dancing, dressing up and playing nonstop, was the hardest they had ever worked, and they needed to be paid accordingly.

His day to day negotiating rules are worth stealing. Get people on the phone, not on text or social DMs, and follow up with an email for a paper trail. Listen to how they talk. If they say it's coming out of their own pocket, you know the bracket, and you set boundaries: lowest rate, no revisions. If they are producing a project with someone else's money, you start at your normal rate and have room to come down. Don't undersell yourself, and don't overshoot and scare them away.

He also tags every client in his phone. When work slows down, he texts them all a special: this week only, seven slots, one song a day. Nomad loved it. The principle is out of sight, out of mind. The method is just creative. That is Make Music Your Business.

Say yes to the skill that scares you

A drummer friend from Dallas once told Philip he should write string arrangements. Philip was scared of strings. His friend said just do it. So when someone called asking for strings, he said yes. Soon after, he arranged strings on two songs for Roberta Flack. He later did strings on two songs for a Tori Kelly record produced by Kirk Franklin. That bag has saved him many times when nobody was calling for horns. Work begets work.

He doesn't claim to be the best string arranger. He knows what not to do and what needs to be done. Specialize in one thing, and be above average at several more.

"There's guys that can play circles around me... Sometimes I scratch my head, like, why am I getting the call? But I've got the ideas, as well as the style and the nuance."

Philip Lassiter, 49:05

Smell good, sit up, and listen

At a clinic in Salt Lake City, Philip opened his trumpet case in front of a hall full of students and pulled out cologne. First thing about getting the gig: body odor is a surefire way not to get called back. He was joking, and he wasn't. You are in the entertainment world no matter your role. Be presentable, mind your posture, and watch the energy you bring into a room.

People skills matter as much as chops. Listen when people talk, stop talking about yourself, and let people talk about themselves. If someone who isn't the greatest player keeps winning, Philip guarantees they know how to win people over.

In the studio, say only what is necessary, because everything is about time. Frame ideas as questions, like "what if we try," the way an old professor of his used to say "you might try." If the producer digs your input, offer a little more. If not, stop. And on stage, listen to the band, and hear the whole piece even when you are improvising.

Hire your heroes

When Philip got to Dallas, he found out where the great players were gigging and showed up, whether they let him play or not. He bought one of them lunch at Cracker Barrel just to hear him talk. Then he started hiring his local heroes.

"Be real humble and grateful that they're there, and pay them as well as you can, even if you make no money. That's the best investment you can do."

Philip Lassiter, 52:16

The takeaway

Do the homework even when nobody is paying yet. When the big room opens, say less, not more. Talk money through the right channel and with tact, keep your clients close, and say yes to the skill that scares you. If you want to be ready when that call comes, start with the free Audition Secrets guide, and find Philip at philiplassiter.com.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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