Wednesday 3 June 2020

Curtis Mayfield born 3 June 1942


Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly.

For these works and others, he is highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist who played the guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums. Curtis Mayfield is a winner of both the Grammy Legend Award (in 1994) and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1995),and was a double inductee into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted as a member of The Impressions into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He is also a 2 time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.

Mayfield began his career as an associate of Jerry Butler, with whom he formed the Impressions in the late '50s. After the Impressions had a big hit in 1958 with "For Your Precious Love," Butler, who had sung lead on the record, split to start a solo career. Mayfield, while keeping the Impressions together, continued to write for and tour with Butler before the Impressions got their first Top 20 hit in 1961, "Gypsy Woman."


                                

Mayfield was heavily steeped in gospel music before he entered the pop arena, and gospel, as well as doo wop, influences would figure prominently in most of his '60s work. Mayfield wasn't a staunch traditionalist, however. He and the Impressions may 
top l to r: Jerry Butler, Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks.
below l to r: Arthur Brooks, Curtis Mayfield.
have often worked the call-and-response gospel style, but his songs (romantic and otherwise) were often veiled or unveiled messages of black pride, reflecting the increased confidence and self-determination of the African-American community.

Musically he was an innovator as well, using arrangements that employed the punchy, blaring horns and Latin-influenced rhythms that came to be trademark flourishes of Chicago soul. As the staff producer for the OKeh label, Mayfield was also instrumental in lending his talents to the work of other Chi-town soul singers who went on to national success. With 
Mayfield singing lead and playing guitar, the Impressions had 14 Top 40 hits in the 1960s (five made the Top 20 in 1964 alone), and released some above-average albums during that period as well.

Given Mayfield's prodigious talents, it was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually leave the Impressions to begin a solo career, as he did in 1970. His first few singles boasted a harder, more funk-driven sound; singles like "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go" found him confronting ghetto life with a realism that had rarely been heard on record.

He really didn't hit his artistic or commercial stride as a solo artist, though, until Super Fly, his soundtrack to a 1972 blaxploitation film. Drug deals, ghetto shootings, the death of young black men before their time: all were described in penetrating detail. Yet Mayfield's irrepressible falsetto vocals, uplifting melodies, and fabulous funk pop arrangements gave the oft-moralizing material a graceful strength that few others could have achieved. For all the glory of his past work, Super Fly stands as his crowning achievement, not to mention a much-needed counterpoint to the sensationalistic portrayals of the film itself.

At this point Mayfield, along with Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, was the foremost exponent of a new level of compelling auteurism in soul. His failure to maintain the standards of Super Fly qualifies as one of the great disappointments in the history of black popular music. Perhaps he'd simply reached his peak after a long climb, but the rest of his '70s work didn't match the musical brilliance and lyrical subtleties of Super Fly, although he had a few large R&B hits in a much more conventional vein, such as "Kung Fu," "So in Love," and "Only You Babe."

Mayfield had a couple of hits in the early '80s, but the decade generally found his commercial fortunes in a steady downward spiral, despite some intermittent albums. On August 14, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a lighting rig fell on top of him at a concert in Brooklyn, NY. The accident set him back, but Mayfield forged ahead. He was unable to play guitar, but he wrote, sang, and directed the recording of his last album, New World Order. Mayfield's vocals were painstakingly recorded, usually line-by-line while lying on his back.

In February, 1998, he had to have his right leg amputated due to diabetes. Mayfield was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 1999. Health reasons prevented him from attending the ceremony. Curtis Mayfield died on December 26, 1999 at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia due to his steadily declining health subsequent to his paralysis. (Info edited from AMG & Wikipedia)

Here’s a clip from TV Show Hollywood A Go Go. The Impressions with It’s All Right” from 1965.

2 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Curtis Mayfield & Impressions – The Anthology 1961 – 1977)” go here;

https://www.upload.ee/files/11815329/Curtis_Mayfield_-_Anthology.rar.html

DISC 1:
1. Gypsy Woman
2. Grow Closer Together
3. Never Let Me Go
4. Little Young Lover
5. Minstrel and Queen
6. I'm the One Who Loves You
7. Sad Sad Girl and Boy
8. It's All Right
9. Talking About My Baby
10. I'm So Proud
11. Keep on Pushing
12. You Must Believe Me
13. See the Real Me
14. Amen
15. I've Been Trying
16. People Get Ready
17. It's Hard to Believe
18. Woman's Got Soul
19. Meeting Over Yonder
20. I Need You
21. You've Been Cheatin'
22. Man Oh Man
23. Can't Satisfy
24. We're a Winner
25. I Loved and I Lost
26. We're Rolling on (Part One)

DISC 2:
1. Fool for You
2. This Is My Country
3. Choice of Colors
4. Check Out Your Mind
5. Move on Up - Curtis Mayfield
6. (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go - Curtis Mayfield
7. The Makings of You - Curtis Mayfield
8. Beautiful Brother of Mine - Curtis Mayfield
9. Freddie's Dead - Curtis Mayfield
10. Superfly - Curtis Mayfield
11. Pusherman - Curtis Mayfield
12. So in Love - Curtis Mayfield
13. Only You Babe (Single Edit) - Curtis Mayfield
14. Do Do Wap Is Strong in Here (Single Edit) - Curtis Mayfield

AllMusic Review by Steve Huey

MCA's double-disc The Anthology 1961-1977 is the definitive overview of Curtis Mayfield's career, as the only compilation to draw from both his solo work and the best of his output with the Impressions. In fact, even discounting the four Curtom tracks that spill over onto disc two, the first disc's 26 selections constitute far and away the most extensive Impressions best-of on the market. Toss in ten of the most essential Mayfield solo tracks, and the result is breathtaking in its progression from romantic soul, often informed by doo wop and gospel, to expansive, ambitiously arranged funk jams. It's also fascinating to hear Mayfield's social conscience emerging as the '60s progress, since he was among the very first R&B artists to explore political issues in his music, paving the way for countless others to do so during the '70s. If you're only interested in Mayfield's funkier solo work, Rhino's The Very Best of Curtis Mayfield features all but one of the solo tracks included here, plus several more. But in order to fully grasp Mayfield's impact on R&B and his talent as a singer, songwriter, musician, and producer, The Anthology 1961-1977 is absolutely essential.

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For “Curtis Mayfield - The Definitive Soul Collection” (Rhino 2006) go here:

CD1*

https://mega.nz/file/zN0QBQ4R#CDjeQTHhiiuKrUQy9b9podvfTH41IDGtIdycqM6ucaw

CD2*

https://mega.nz/file/TI9wxCBb#nmix2OlNQu7rJ8rTYLyOLJIlOmoHpN4SweU6FFbuAgQ


1-1 (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go 7:53
1-2 The Making Of You 3:42
1-3 Move On Up 8:57
1-4 Get Down 3:53
1-5 We Got To Have Peace 4:46
1-6 Beautiful Brother Of Mine 3:10
1-7 Freddie's Dead (Theme From “Superfly”) 3:19
1-8 Superfly 3:55
1-9 Pusherman 5:02
1-10 Future Shock 5:21
1-11 If I Were Only A Child Again 2:56
1-12 Can’t Say Nothin' 3:37
1-13 Kung Fu 3:50
1-14 Sweet Exorcist 3:51
1-15 Mother's Son 3:33

2-1 So In Love 5:14
2-2 Only You Babe 4:23
2-3 Party Night 3:49
2-4 Show Me Love 3:47
2-5 Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here 3:33
2-6 You Are, You Are 3:42
2-7 Do It All Night 3:42
2-8 Between You Baby And Me (Vocals – Linda Clifford) 4:44
2-9 You're So Good To Me 3:40
2-10 Love's Sweet Sensation (Vocals – Linda Clifford) 3:52
2-11 Love Me, Love Me Now 4:52
2-12 Tripping Out 3:54
2-13 She Don’t Let Nobody (But Me) 3:55
2-14 Baby, It's You 3:36
2-15 Do Be Down 4:10

* A big thank you to Osomdosprados blog for active links

Crab Devil said...

Thank you!