Phil Upchurch, a fixture in blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and R&B for over half a century, handed away in Los Angeles on November 23. He was 84.

Born in Chicago on July 19, 1941, Upchurch was a self-taught guitarist who turned skilled at 16, had successful track with “You Can’t Sit Down” in 1961, and recorded at Chess Information. He spent the mid ’60s as a U.S. Military reporter in Germany and carried out in native golf equipment, then returned to Chicago and located work as a session guitarist, performing with Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, Howlin’ Wolf, Gene Chandler, and The Dells. By the top of the last decade, he’d performed bass with The Staple Singers, toured with Oscar Brown, Jr., performed with the soul-jazz instrumental group The Soulful Strings, and recorded his personal music. His relationship with Curtis Mayfield produced the soundtracks Superfly, Let’s Do It Once more, Claudine, and Sparkle, that includes Aretha Franklin. He later recorded with Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, and plenty of others.

Upchurch was the bassist within the avant-garde psychedelic-soul band Rotary Connection, which additionally featured Chess Information receptionist Minnie Ripperton, who sang “I Am the Black Gold of the Solar.”

Upchurch performed on Muddy Waters’ Eclectic Mud, Huge Boss Man by Jimmy Reed, George Benson’s mega-hit Breezin’, Chaka Khan’s “I’m Each Lady,” Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall, and the Donny Hathaway traditional “This Christmas.”

Revered by his friends, Upchurch’s enjoying was saturated in funk, up to date pop, classical, and the organ wizardry of Jimmy Smith. He performed on greater than 1,000 recordings, movie soundtracks, and 27 albums as a band chief. On the time of his passing, he was writing an autobiography and had simply overseen the reissue of “You Can’t Sit Down.” He’s survived by spouse. – Oscar Jordan

This text initially appeared in VG’s February 2026 problem. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.