Phil Upchurch, a prolific jazz guitarist who showcased his chops on enduring pop songs like Chaka Khan’s 1978 disco staple “I’m Every Woman” and Michael Jackson’s percolating “Workin’ Day and Night,” died on Nov. 23 in Los Angeles. He was 84.
His death was announced in a statement on his professional website. It did not cite a cause.
Emerging from Chicago’s flourishing electric blues and R&B scene of the 1950s and ’60s, Mr. Upchurch released more than 20 albums as a solo artist or band leader that often displayed his feel for silky R&B and funk-inflected jazz.
A crack sideman, he appeared on more than 1,000 recordings and sat in on guitar or bass with luminaries like Bob Dylan and Curtis Mayfield; pop hitmakers like Sheena Easton and Natalie Cole; blues masters like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker; and jazz greats like Cannonball Adderley, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock.
Mr. Upchurch performed on various Mayfield film soundtracks, including “Super Fly” (1972). He toured the world with the guitarist and singer George Benson and performed on Mr. Benson’s Grammy Award-winning album “Breezin’” (1976) and the live “Weekend in L.A.” (1978).
Mr. Upchurch was also known for his frequent collaborations with the soul star Donny Hathaway; his sizzling lead work can be heard on Mr. Hathaway’s “Live,” the 1972 album Rolling Stone magazine ranked No. 48 on its 2015 list of the “50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time.”
Mr. Upchurch saw himself primarily as a jazz player — albeit one with his own vision. “I never did consider myself a ‘jazz player’ in terms of swing jazz,” he told The San Diego Union-Tribune in 1997. “I always wanted to play funkier jazz as opposed to straight-ahead bebop.”
Despite his proximity to stars over the years, including Mr. Jackson on the 1979 album “Off the Wall,” Mr. Upchurch never sought to bask in their limelight.
“I don’t like to go around saying that I’ve recorded with this person and that, because in most cases the artist doesn’t call the musician, the producer does,” Mr. Upchurch said in a 1985 interview with Guitar Player magazine. “It’s better when things happen, like how I came to play on Michael Jackson’s ‘Off the Wall.’”
“I just stopped by the studio,” he continued, “to say hello to Quincy Jones, who was the producer, and he said, ‘Hey, let’s have you play on this one.’ Then he stuck a guitar in my hands.”
Philip Rodney Upchurch was born on July 19, 1941, in Chicago. His father, also named Philip, was a jazz guitarist and a city bus driver. He said his father gave him a ukulele at 13 and soon grew proficient on guitar, bass and drums as well.
After graduating from high school in 1958, he toured with the Spaniels and other popular vocal groups, including the Kool Gents and the Dells. He also lent his skills to the Top 10 hit “He Will Break Your Heart” (1960) by the soul singer Jerry Butler.
Mr. Upchurch began releasing records of his own in the early 1960s. Heading the Philip Upchurch Combo, he issued a 1961 bluesy instrumental dance single, “You Can’t Sit Down Part Two,” which rose to No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100; a vocal cover released by the Dovells in 1963 shot all the way to No. 3.
He found himself in a different arena — or ring — when he joined Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) as part of the backing band for the fighter’s 1963 spoken-word comedy album, “I Am the Greatest!,” an early, if unwitting, precursor to rap.
After a stint in the Army starting in the mid-1960s, Mr. Upchurch became a fixture at Chess Records, the storied Chicago label, where he did memorable session work with Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Etta James.
In the late 1960s, he resumed releasing albums under his own name — among them, “Upchurch” and “The Way I Feel,” both on Cadet Records, the jazz subsidiary of Chess. He continued to record, largely for minor labels, into the 2000s, and perform live well into his later years.
His survivors include his wife and occasional musical collaborator, Sonya Maddox-Upchurch.
Even when riffing behind the King of Pop and other stars in the recording studios of Los Angeles, Mr. Upchurch never forgot his Chicago roots. “Without some blues, ain’t nothin’ happening,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1996. “If you don’t dig the blues, you got a hole in your soul.”
Alex Williams is a Times reporter on the Obituaries desk.
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