He was recomended to a prestigious music school in California by none other than Itzhak Perlman, the legendary Israeli-born violinist.

Having summoned Phillips into his practice room, Perlman told the boy to simply play something on the piano. Phillips responded with his rendition of Mozart's "Sonata in A Minor," a piece he had learned by ear. Perlman would later comment that the boy had "radar in his fingers."

But instead of packing his bags for California, Phillips was referred to New York-based music teacher Ronit Lowenthal, with whom he trained for several months.

He learned that classical music is a rigid discipline, one that has exacting standards of hard work and dedication. When he was once asked to leave his lesson early for not doing his homework, Phillips realized he didn't want to limit himself to becoming a concert pianist.

The decision changed his life.

"Before she would come into the room, I would usually jam on the piano playing jazz," something Lowenthal would not have approved of, he said.

Though his brush with the often stodgy world of classical music was brief, his obsession with music is still flourishing.

His sound has often been compared to Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder: it's jazz with a heavy rock influence.

ut major record companies aren't looking for the next Donald Fagen. Recently, recording contracts seem to be going mainly to solo female artistes, whose labels hope they will coast on the enormous wave of so-called alternative rock that made Alanis Morisette and Sheryl Crow last year's recording sensations.

"It's more that they don't know about a sound like mine. I know they're not looking for it right now, because record companies look for things that are currently selling. ...The fact is that in music there is always a forerunner who kind of breaks the mold, and it takes a Brian Epstein or someone like that to see it and realize it for what it is," he said.

Phillips, 28, is the perfect example of the undiscovered New York musician.

Unquestionably talented, adept at the guitar, keyboard, sax and drums, able to pack popular Manhattan venues like Wetlands and Tramps with hundreds of devoted fans, he has yet to be signed by a major record label. And so he continues the process of "gigging" around the city, perpetually searching for a venue to play, in the hope of attracting the attention of "the A&R people" -- the artistic and repertory people -- who hand out recording contracts.

"I just wish I could be playing for a living. Making it big is not my ultimate goal. It's the music that matters. I just love to play," he said.

Leading the list of Phillips' believers is Marc Copeland, a DJ at a New Jersey jazz and fusion radio station. Having seen Phillips perform at Tramps last June, Copeland invited him to appear for a 30-minute interview and played cuts from a gig recorded at Wetlands.

"He saw me at Tramps and said 'I know what to do with this,' and things like that, but since then there have been a lot of rejections," said Phillips.

He also has numerous musical contacts around New York. He is regularly seen in the company of the newly discovered female jazz sensation Rachel Z. His band's horn section boasts players who have sat in with the likes of the Rolling Stones. Phillips hopes that his discovery by a major label is only a question of time.

His four-man backup band includes:

• "Funky" Frank Katz, drums, who plays with the BrandX, Phil Collins' old band and also teaches at New York's Drummer's Collective.

• Dave Inniss, bass, who also plays with Jazzhole, a touring acid jazz band and has also played a track for an upcoming film.

• Dave Mann, Tenor Sax, has recorded his own solo albums and also plays with Tower of Power.

• Andy Snitzer, Alto Sax, has toured with the Rolling Stones and has sat in on studio sessions with Roberta Flack.

"I knew that with that gig something had to change. I had to take to the next level. I had been performing the same tunes for several months," he said.

With two exceptions, Phillips performed an entirely new collection of songs he wrote and arranged himself. Phillips said that his best ideas come to him on the New York Subway as he heads from his Upper East Side apartment to his job with Ziff-Davis Publications on Park Ave.

"I like to lean up against the door and get into a groove, and when I get to work I'll call up my answering machine at home and hum the tune so I don't forget it," he said.

His lyrics come from moments of pain or from annoyance.

"I'm usually at my most prolific after I've just broken up a with a girlfriend. ...I don't know of any musician who can get away with writing happy music all the time," he said.

"Daisy Walker" is his signature tune, the one with which he opens his performances. "79th Street Crosstown" details his memories of the daily bus ride to school. Tunes like "The Money Manager" detail an observation of young women seeking to marry the men who manage the money of the rich. "Obsessed" chronicles the unquenchable desire for a woman in love with someone else. "Don't Talk During the Movie" describes a typical annoyance that nearly anyone can relate to. "Gazpacho and Pellegrino" describes the scene of a break up with his last girlfriend, an Italian restaurant.

"This girl was completely so not affected that she was able to order gazpacho and eat and I was so upset, I could only order a bottle of Pellegrino water," he said.

"I used to think that the most important thing in music was the groove and the melody,'' said Phillips. ``Then I heard Billy Joel's "The Stranger" and the importance of writing lyrics that mean something really hit me."

For the moment, Phillips is focusing on writing more tunes, and developing and setting up another gig at Wetlands.

"Wetlands has amazing sound quality on the stage The sound has to be good in order for the band to respond to the music and try to play well,'' he said. ``At Wetlands you always hear everything really well, and it generates its own crowd as oppossed to other clubs."