7 July 2025

Phil Upchurch with Tennyson Stephens - Upchurch/Tennyson (1975)

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Phillip Upchurch (born July 19, 1941) is an American soul music, R&B, jazz and blues guitarist and bassist. 
Upchurch started his career working with the Kool Gents, the Dells, and the Spaniels, before going on to work with Curtis Mayfield, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Reed. 
(His association with Kool Gents member Dee Clark would continue, including playing guitar on Clark's 1961 solo hit "Raindrops".) 
He then returned to Chicago to play and record with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Groove Holmes, B.B. King, and Dizzy Gillespie. 

Not much is known about piano sideman and occasional vocalist, Tennyson Stephens. He maybe hailed from the Bay Area and found his way to Oahu, playing gigs here and there, for favored singers and the tourists in Waikiki.
Stephens paired up with guitarist Phil Upchurch back in the ‘70s for a seminal jazz-soul album entitled, “Upchurch/Tennyson.” 
Much has been made of Upchurch’s rise as a busy Chicago session player who managed to produce his own sound throughout the works of John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Ramsey Lewis, the Staple Singers, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, as well as come out with his own 1960s hit single, “You Can’t Sit Down.” Upchurch kept it going on for various record labels and still tours with several bands, including his own, today.

1975 was a hell of a year for Creed Taylor's Kudu Records. 
Not only was the mighty, mighty Feels So Good album by Grover Washington, Jr. released, but so was saxophonist Hank Crawford's Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing. 
It was one of two recordings issued by Crawford for the label in that calendar year. But perhaps the most deeply satisfying and out of character album from that year was the absolute soul-jazz masterpiece Upchurch/Tennyson by Chicago guitar god Phil Upchurch and pianist/vocalist Tennyson Stephens. 
Where else can you find tracks by Bob James, Charles Stepney, Stevie Wonder, Ralph MacDonald, and Franz Schubert on the same album played by a cast of musicians that includes Steve Gadd, David Sanborn, Hubert Laws, James, Upchruch, Stephens, and a slew of others. 
While the album kicks off soulfully with MacDonald's mellow groover "You Got Style," with Stephens hitting all the low notes correctly and with smooth verve throughout, the next tune is the one that set the mark for acts like Enigma, Delerium, Adiemus, and others: James' setting of Schubert's "Ave Maria" to a slow funky backbeat with a chorus of female voices all colored by guitar and Fender Rhodes. 
The read of Wonder's "Tell Me Something Good" is stunning in a different way than Chaka Khan's, with Upchurch bending the hell out of his single-string notes, and James' "South Side Morning" is one of the most beautifully composed -- as well as executed -- tunes he's ever conceived. 
Throughout is the warmth and tenderness of Stephens' singing and his lilting pianism, and Upchurch's always in the pocket, without any flashy guitar playing, making this a late-night and early-morning album to live by. 
This is one of those soul-jazz records that is heavier on soul and is all the better for it.   



Track listing

1.  You Got Style - 2:34
     Written By – Ralph MacDonald
2.  Ave Maria - 4:37
     Written By – Franz Schubert
3.  In Common - 3:52
     Written By – Tennyson Stephens
4.  Tell Me Something Good - 5:56
     Written By – Stevie Wonder
5.  Don’t I Know You? - 3:01
     Written By – Henry Gibson
6.  South Side Morning - 3:01
     Written By – Bob James
7.  Evil - 3:47
     Written By – Tennyson Stephens
8.  Black Gold - 3:30
     Written By – Charles Stepney
9.  I Wanted It Too - 2:49
     Written By – Ralph MacDonald, William Salter

Bonus Tracks

10.  Donny´s Hip - 5:11
11.  Black Mayne - 6:52
12.  Tell The Truth - 3:41
13.  Looking The World Over - 4:30


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: 1975 
Genre:  Soul Jazz / Smooth Soul / Jazz Funk-
Total time: 53:45

Label - Kudu 

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