Phil Upchurch was one of Chicago’s most successful session musicians. He was born on 19th July 1941 in the Windy City, where he learnt to play the guitar while he attended school. He soon became an accomplished master on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and electric bass.
His career started at Vee-Jay Records, where he worked on sessions for the Kool Gents, the Dells and the Spaniels, whilst still a teenager. One of Upchurch’s first landmark recording sessions produced the classic hit song performed by Dee Clark entitled “Raindrops”, recorded and released in 1961 on Vee-Jay Records. The single became a million-seller. On the recording Upchurch played acoustic guitar and shared creative ideas with the legendary Bruce Swedien, who was sound engineer on the session. In an interview with Christopher G. Feldman (author of the book “The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles”), Phil Upchurch described how the song came about: “Myself and Dee Clark were driving home during a stormy night from New York City on the way to Chicago with the road covered with water, and it inspired Clark to compose a song relating to the weather condition with the creation of thunderclaps and the illusion of falling rain.”
The single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart week-ending 16th June 1961 (1 week). It was kept from the number one position by Gary U.S. Bonds’ track “Quarter To Three”. Vee-Jay’s recording base was mainly at Universal Recording Studios, where many of their classic hits were recorded. Upchurch remained a member of the studio band at Vee-Jay Records for several years.
In 1961 Upchurch had another major success, this time as a recording artist, playing bass and lead guitars. He had formed a group, the Phil Upchurch Combo, with David Brooks, Mac Johnson, Joe Hoddrick and Cornell Muldrow. In 1960 they decided to record a cover of a 1959 instrumental called “You Can’t Sit Down” by the Bim Bam Boos on which Upchurch and Muldrow had played. Side A is a version of the original, while Part 2 on the B-side is a reworked version, showing the Combo’s playful skills. The tracks were recorded in New Orleans and released by Boyd Records, which Bobby Boyd had recently set up in Oklahoma City. The single sold well, reaching number twenty-nine on the Billboard Pop chart.
After Vee-Jay Records went out of business, Upchurch became a member of the house band at Chess Records and played extensively on many of the Soulful Strings sessions. The Soulful Strings was a group of musicians who played at Chess, put together by the late Richard Evans, a classic strings arranger, who was a key member of staff at Chess. The group’s recordings were released on Cadet Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records. The group’s membership consisted of Upchurch, Lenny Druss (flute), Charles Stepney (organ, vibraphone), Cleveland Eaton (bass, cello), Morris Jennings (drums) and Bobby Christian (vibraphone, percussion). Billy Wooten later replaced Stepney. Other contributions came from Johnny Griffiths and Donny Hathaway (both keyboards) plus harpist Dorothy Ashby.
The Soulful Strings recorded six studio albums and one live album between 1966 and 1971. The group’s aim was to take well-known popular songs and give them an orchestral twist. They covered a wide selection of hits, reworking them to add a new dimension drawing on Jazz, Funk, Soul and Psychedelic sounds. Evans chose to use violas instead of violins alongside cellos to give “a very dark sound”, in his description.
Under Charles Stepney’s creative leadership, Upchurch also started to play with Rotary Connection, a multi-genres group which incorporated fusion of psychedelic soul, psychedelic rock, blues and jazz. He also participated in recording sessions for Ramsey Lewis’ jazz fusion projects, produced by Charles Stepney.
The group projects described above ran alongside the regular session work that Upchurch was undertaking at Chess. During the sixties, he played on many recording sessions, some of which produced major hits. The Dells’ first Soul and R&B number one on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles Chart, week-ending 10th August 1968 (3 weeks) came with the release of “Stay In My Corner”, a re-recorded version of their Vee-Jay recording from 1065. The band featured on this session featured Upchurch, plus Louis Satterfield on bass and Morris Jennings on drums, with the strings section provided by musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Stepney. The following year another single performed by The Dells, “Oh, What A Night”, peaked at number one, week-ending 27th September 1969 (1 week), with Upchurch featured on rhythm guitar, accompanied by strings from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with music arranged and conducted by Charles Stepney.
Phil Upchurch 2012
Photo: Christopher B.E. (Wikimedia Commons)
Before his departure from Chess Records, Upchurch was involved in other important recording sessions. He participated in the Muddy Waters experimental album “Electric Mud” (1969), playing guitar. The album went on to sell over 250,000 copies in America and is now regarded as a classic body of work. He played on the follow-up studio albums by Muddy Waters called “After The Rain” (1969) and “Father and Sons” (1969), playing mainly bass guitar on the second of these.
When he finally moved on from Chess, Upchurch was in demand! He went to work at Curtom Records with Curtis Mayfield and at Mercury and Brunswick Records.
