Phillip Johnston (b. January 22, 1955, Chicago) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and saxophonist. Johnston first gained notice working on the underground music scene of New York City in the 1980s. Among those he collaborated with are John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Elliott Sharp, Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, and The DB's. Alongside this, he has done several commissions for theater and dance pieces, and has done film scores for Doris Dorrie, Philip Haas, and Paul Mazursky. He co-founded The Microscopic Septet, a group which dissolved in 1992, after this he founded the ensemble Big Trouble, who recorded for Black Saint Records. Later in the 1990s he recorded with his own Transparent Quartet.