Soul patrol: Guitar legend Dennis Coffey jams with Funk Night DJs

It makes sense that a musician known for his work with Motown’s famed funk brothers would perform nearly a half-century later with the Motor City Funk Night crew. In the early 1950s, Coffey picked up a guitar in the tiny Yooper town Copper City. By 1955, when he was a sophomore at Detroit’s old Mackenzie High School, Coffey played his first professional recording session. In the early 1960s he joined the Royaltones and played sessions with other artists, including Del Shannon.

As a member of the Funk Brothers studio band, Coffey played on dozens of recordings for Motown Records, and introduced a hard rock guitar sound on classics like “Cloud Nine,” “Ball of Confusion” and “Psychedelic Shack” (all by the Temptations). He played on hit singles like Edwin Starr’s “War,” The Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” and Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold.”

In 1971, Coffey recorded “Scorpio” which was a million selling instrumental single that peaked at #6 on the Billboard pop chart.

In April, Coffey will release a self-titled album made up new songs and new versions of old songs.

See him perform Friday, Feb. 25, 10 p.m. – 4 a.m. (somewhere in that time frame) at the Majestic Theater, 4120 Woodward Ave., in Detroit’s Midtown.