The Phenix Horns

The Phenix Horns, originally known as the EWF Horns, were the main horn section for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. The horn section was composed of Don Myrick on saxophone, Louis "Lui Lui" Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Michael Davis on trumpet, Michael Harris on trumpet and Harry Kim on trumpet.

The Phenix Horns are also known for their work with Phil Collins and the band Genesis. They have also performed with other artists, such as the Chi-Lites, Ramsey Lewis, Deniece Williams and the Emotions.

The horn section should not be confused with the Earth, Wind & Fire Horns, which were established in 1987.

Don Myrick, Louis Satterfield, and Rahmlee Michael Davis recorded in the early 1970s with the formation the Pharaohs, from which two albums have been re-issued on CD: The Awakening, recorded in 1971, and a live album, In the Basement, recorded in 1972.

Maurice White met trombonist and bassist Louis Satterfield while performing at Chicago's Chess Studios. At that time Satterfield was working at Chess as a musician, where he played on hit songs such as Fontella Bass's "Rescue Me." The duo later collaborated as part of the Pharaohs. After leaving Chess to play in the Ramsey Lewis Trio, White went on to start up a band known as Earth, Wind & Fire. He eventually expanded the band's sound to include a horn section called the Phenix Horns. Two of Satterfield's bandmates from the Pharaohs, saxophonist Don Myrick and trumpeter Rahmlee Michael Davis, joined the horn section, along with trumpeter Michael Harris.

It was Harris' control and precision in the instrument's upper register that helped define the section's sound. The group was less beholden to middle register three and four-part harmonies (the trademark of Chicago's Lee Loughnane, Walter Parazaider, and Jimmy Pankow), instead favoring a more staccato, rhythmic, borderline percussive approach similar to the sound being popularized by trumpeter/arranger Greg Adams in Tower Of Power (though notably excluding the contrapuntal baritone saxophone spits favored by Adams). This sound was ideally suited for White's increasingly dance-oriented songs. Examples are 1974's "Mighty Mighty" from Open Our Eyes and "September", which prominently features a fast-moving unison line played in three octaves (Satterfield in the lower octave, Myrick and Davis doubling in the middle octave, and Harris in the upper octave).

Myrick was also developing a distinctive solo voice. Though Ronnie Laws and later Andrew Woolfolk, Laws' replacement, were intended to play the featured instrumentalist role in the band's live shows, Myrick eventually won over some of those duties for himself.

1979 saw the arrival and almost immediate departure of trumpeter Elmer Brown, who plays lead trumpet in the 1979 live concerts in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Budokan, Japan.^{[citation needed]}