I was talking to someone about my love of jazz and he said that I MUST get into Phil Upchurch and a CD called "Darkness."

Anyone familiar with him....

He used to be one Donny Hathaway's sidemen. He's heavy into Donny's sessions.

You can hear him all over Donny's live albums.

Thats as far as I know about the man.

He plays guitar.

He's also the father of one of my friends from D.C., who happens 2 be one of the baddest drummers around.

I've been meaning to get my hands on his album "Darkness Darkness" myself. Phil's been a very prolific sideman working with Donny Hathaway, George Benson, Curtis Mayfield and probably several others. He's considered one of the most versatile guitar players in the business.

Brotha killed guitar on Donny's tracks.


G, man, I keep forgetting you got D.C. connections...

jacktheimprovident said:

why is the DARKNESS DARKNESS album out of print except for an EXPENSIVE Japanese import

LoveAlive said:

You can get a good lesson on Phil's background (along with some great photos) via his website:
http://www.philupchurch.com/

He's one of those walking musical history books.
Guitarist with Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, staff guitarist at Chess Records.
Not to mention the ton of records he's played on.

Darkness, Darkness is relatively expensive (I paid $22 for it recently).
That's the way it is when your product is not considered economically viable by American record labels.
Luckily, the Japanese and Europeans seem to understand the historic value of music, hence their presence in the reissue market.
We're too concerned with being hip and trendy even if the product reeks. (soapbox closed)


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

He woured with the Jacksons. I remember Rady introducing him.

ThreadBare said:

Yup, yup.

In fact, back in those days (mid to late '90s), Sean Rickman (who I mentioned above) used 2 play with Federico. It was right after they had both worked with Maxwell... Freddy on the album and the tour, and Sean on the tour.

Freddy was recording and touring with Meshell then.

Sean "The Rick" Rickman was truly one of baddest drummers in D.C... articulate fills and acccents.

DAG. I miss D.C.

Giovanni777 said:

And he's also got a Shawn Lane tie in.

Do these musical connections ever end?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:[quote]

LoveAlive said:

You can get a good lesson on Phil's background (along with some great photos) via his website:
http://www.philupchurch.com/

He's one of those walking musical history books.
Guitarist with Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, staff guitarist at Chess Records.
Not to mention the ton of records he's played on.

Darkness, Darkness is relatively expensive (I paid $22 for it recently).
That's the way it is when your product is not considered economically viable by American record labels.
Luckily, the Japanese and Europeans seem to understand the historic value of music, hence their presence in the reissue market.
We're too concerned with being hip and trendy even if the product reeks. (soapbox closed)


tA

Thank you, tA, for the link to Philip's page! I haven't listened to him in a while and the pictures brought back such great memories! I know him through an old friend, another musician who played with Jimmy Smith. He has had, and continues to have, an incredible career. Just the list of people he has played with makes clear what an great musician he is. I'm not the person to school those who don't know him, but I can certainly recommend that they don't sleep on a serious musician like Upchurch!