One of soul singer Jackie Wilson’s finest albums, 1973’s Beautiful Day has no well-known tracks but it delivers consistently over its ten songs. Chicago’s legendary Carl Davis took care of production duties, putting together a rich, ornate, theatrical backing for Wilson’s vocals which are in soaring form here. Epic Northern soul favourite ‘Because Of You’ is probably the album highlight but it’s in close competition with the delightful big-band soul of ‘This Love Is Mine’. Overall, it’s a breezy, sunny and euphoric ride; sweet soul music from one of the genre’s originators.
Chicago Soul
by Harold Heath
Soul music is often defined by its cities: Detroit gave us Motown, Memphis gave us Stax, and New York had Atlantic. But Chicago never really had a single, city-defining soul music record label, which goes some way to explaining why Chicago soul is perhaps less well known than the soul music from America’s other big cities.
This is ironic given that Chicago was arguably soul music’s birthplace, via the blending of electric Chicago blues with gospel and jazz. But regardless, Chicago soul is a music lovers’ treasure trove of beautiful, sophisticated, mature, soaring soul. It’s a musical tradition most often defined in contrast to the raw, earthy, gutsy soul of Stax or the upscale, radio-friendly pop-soul of Motown. It’s a sweeter sound than Stax, generally heavily orchestrated — you’ll hear french horns and harps in Chicago soul — with a widescreen, cinematic scope to the complex string, woodwind and horn arrangements. Chicago soul also tends to be softer and more restrained than Motown’s frantic, upfront, instant-hook approach, and often draws on Latin musical influences like samba, flamenco and rumba in addition to the shared soul music roots of gospel, blues and R’n’B.
The soul music of Chicago was spread across labels like Vee-Jay, Chess, Okeh, Curtom, ABC-Paramount, Chi-Sound and Brunswick, but one thing much of the music had in common was the presence of three key figures who shaped the Chicago soul sound: singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Curtis Mayfield, producer and record executive Carl Davis, and producer and arranger Johnny Pate.
A prodigious songwriter, Mayfield was lead-singer in pioneering soul group The Impressions and throughout the sixties he also wrote for local talent including Major Lance, Jerry Butler, The Fascinations, Gene Chandler and The Five Stairsteps. Mayfield launched his Curtom label in 1968 which was home to artists like Donny Hathaway, The Five Stairsteps, Leroy Huston and Linda Clifford, many of whom Mayfield also wrote and produced for. Curtom also released Mayfield’s solo efforts which have since become some of the most prized albums in the soul music canon.
Mayfield directly influenced the tone, flavour and direction of Chicago soul, through his particular melodic and harmonic sense — which was partly due to his unique upside-down guitar playing style — and his lyrical themes, which ranged from tender love songs to cutting social commentary. Throughout the sixties, Mayfield, like Sam Cooke before him, championed the idea that soul music was more than just entertainment, that it could play a vital role in social change and this perhaps was his biggest influence on the larger soul music world, paving the way for the socially aware black music that would flourish in the following decade.
Record executive and producer Carl Davis had an impressive career in the industry and is a vital part of Chicago soul history. He employed both Mayfield and Pate to write for several of his artists at Okeh Records in the early sixties, then moved to Brunswick Records where he produced artists like Jackie Wilson, Barbara Acklin and the Chi-Lites. Davis then set up Dakar Record which ran from 67 to 76, releasing Chicago soul and funk from artists including Tyrone Davis, Johnny Sayles, and Hamilton Bohannon, before launching Chi-Sound Records in 1976 and putting out music by Gene Chandler, The Chi-Lites, The Dells and The Impressions.
Jazz bassist Johnny Pate moved into arranging and production in the sixties, becoming one of the central figures in the emerging Chicago soul sound, working with numerous Chicago R’n’B and soul labels and artists. Pate bought a sophisticated and elegant musical sensibility to his arrangements; his horn parts, for example, are distinctly light and jazzy compared to the contemporaneous brass power-riffs of Stax. He often used carefully orchestrated strings and woodwind too, something Motown also did to sweeten their releases but there’s a classically-influenced, soundtrack-esque feel to much of his orchestration that you don’t really hear in Motown music of the same period.
The Chicago soul sound developed and expanded through the late sixties and into the seventies, with variations including Curtis Mayfield’s orchestral/psychedelic funk, the smooth, glowing warmth of Tyrone Davis’ hits, the soft, misty-focus ballads of the Chi-Lites and Leroy Hutson’s seminal album run of sophisticated soul, funk and pre-disco.
The rise of the major labels and the corresponding rise in the disco sound signalled an end to many independent record labels in the 1970s and Chicago’s soul imprints were no exception. Their legacy is an influential body of soul, R’n’B and funk music that is beautiful, playful, elegant, expansive, emotionally restrained yet wonderfully expressive.
‘There Is’ from 1968 is probably the Dell’s finest moment and contains joyful soul and deep 50’s-flavoured ballads, reflecting the group’s roots as a doo-wop outfit (the Dells originally formed in 1953). It’s arranged by the great Charles Stepney and the whole album has an elaborate, rich, cinematic sound, with a baroque, sophisticated orchestral backing framing the angelic vocal harmonies. The album also includes a pair of classic uptempo soul stormers, ‘Run For Cover’ and ‘Wear It On Our Face’ that were adopted by the UK’s fanatical Northern Soul scene.
Mayfield takes on the mantle of psychedelic-soul, conscious musical warrior, purveying finely-wrought funk and soul that is sometimes sweet and innocent, sometimes dark and angry. His crack four-piece band can kick up an intense wall of hippie-funk or the lightest of love songs with ease, and Mayfield runs through a mix of his Impressions and solo material on an album that also contains vocal interludes and crowd interactions, giving it an extremely intimate feel. Also notable for ‘Stare And Stare’, which never appeared on any Mayfield studio albums and only exists in this live version.
The second album from California’s The Natural Four on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom label was produced by soul legend Leroy Hutson who also co-wrote much of the material, so it’s unsurprisingly similar to the elegant songs, plush orchestration and voluptuous arrangements of Hutson’s solo efforts. With its french horns, wide-screen strings and carefully arranged harmonies, The Natural Four has a polished, cultured soul sound that also manages to maintain intimacy and warmth.
Vocalist Baby Huey’s only album was released in 1971 after he tragically passed away the previous year. Produced by Curtis Mayfield, it’s another lost soul classic that was rediscovered then heavily sampled by hip hop producers. Several of the tracks are elongated into extended hippie-funk jams full of organ and guitar soloing, soaring brass and extremely funky percussion and drum breaks. The cover of ‘California Dreaming’ is easily one of the best ever while the beat and vibe of ‘Hard Times’ prefigures much of 90s hip hop; this is tight, densely arranged majestic soul-funk.
People Get Ready is an excellent example of mid-sixties Chicago soul, arranged and produced by leading Chicago music figure Johnny Pate and characterised by big, brassy, jazz-flavoured horn arrangements and uptown, cinematic orchestration. The famous title track was adopted as an anthem for the American civil rights movement and is still a powerful and emotive listen today. This song is where Curtis Mayfield revealed his potential as an important socially-conscious songwriter, a role he would fully develop over the next decade with The Impressions and then as a solo artist.
The first of two albums Hutson put out in 1976 during his mid-seventies hot streak, Feel The Spirit is considered by many fans to be his finest, a bold claim bearing in mind the stiff competition from the rest of his catalogue, but it’s certainly one of the best soul albums of the period. Aside from one disco track, Feel The Spirit is made up of advanced, highly-developed funk and catchy, jazz-tinged soul, with not a weak track or even a weak moment to be found anywhere.
An earthy, rugged Chi-soul album from Mississippi vocalist Ruby Andrews, which switches between tougher R’n’B tracks with no strings or orchestration to songs drenched in the silky strings and muted brass that characterised the Chicago sound. Andrew’s isn’t a particularly well-known singer, just another bit-player in soul music history really, but she puts in some gorgeous performances on here and Everybody Saw You maintains a high standard throughout.
Excellent Chicago soul album from blues singer Syl Johnson, who generally keeps the mood pretty low-paced and simmering over the eight tracks with even the funkier songs having a languid, still air to them. The brooding, plaintive blues-funk of the title track remains one of the most powerful records of the civil rights era and together with his ‘Concrete Reservation’ form a social-conscious precursor to Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’. Not especially successful on release, it’s since been heavily sampled by the hip hop community and ‘Is It Because I’m Black’ is now rightly considered a classic.
Another great album in Mayfield’s impressive early 70s run, his first of two in 1971, features his trademark expansive orchestrated funk — there’s plenty of harps and woodwind among the rattling congas and wah wah guitar — and fuzz guitar/percussion jams. Uncompromising social commentary sits comfortably side by side with his more optimistic tracks and his love songs, all of which are characterised by Mayfield’s celestial-sounding falsetto and his unique guitar style. It’s hippie-soul, psychedelic-funk, cinematic-R’n’B: confident and bold.
Singer, keyboardist and songwriter Hathaway helped widen the sonic vocabulary of soul and R’n’B music by incorporating jazz chords and a sophisticated musicality into his music, effortlessly drawing together blues, jazz and soul and does exactly that across the ten tracks of this album. Hathaway’s voice here is yearning, expressive, as sweet and smooth as honey, perfectly pitched between the church and the streets. His tragically short career meant his influence on other artists has been underplayed, and this is a very influential album but it’s also a beautiful one too.
Songwriter, producer and musician Willie Henderson worked with the likes of Jackie Wilson, Donny Hathaway and Barbara Acklin and he also put out this excellent funk album in 1970. A collection of instrumental and semi-instrumental soul/funk tracks, aside from a questionable cover of The Archies’ ‘Sugar Sugar’ this is all solid gold. A rock-solid funky rhythm section, chicken-scratch guitar, triumphant brass and a live feel, with plenty of sax soloing from Henderson, it’s not the stripped back, efficient funk of the JBs or The Meters, it’s a more big-band, jubilant, soulful take on the genre.
The only album from Texas-born Johnny Sayles isn’t particularly well known but it’s a strong album in the Chicago soul canon. Sayles has a hard, gritty voice, reminiscent of Wilson Pickett and the material here is generally up-tempo, hard-rocking soul and funk apart from ‘Voices From The Inside’ which is slow-paced, stalking, stark blues with added rainstorm sound effects. Produced by Chicago music luminary Willie Henderson, there’s something of a down-home Southern soul flavour to the tracks and overall its blend of Chi-soul orchestration and Southern Soul rawness works very well.
This film soundtrack produced by Curtis Mayfield is perhaps a little overlooked in Aretha’s back catalogue but it definitely deserves some attention. It was a mid-decade return to form for the Queen of Soul and the biggest hit from the album, ‘Something He Can Feel,’ stands up to any ‘peak-Aretha’ material from the previous decade. Sparkle benefits from Mayfield’s elegant songs and classy arrangements, Aretha sounds in fine form and the whole thing is a pleasure from start to finish.
Written entirely by lead singer and Chicago musical legend Curtis Mayfield, his socially conscious, sometimes angry lyrics delivered in the sweetest falsetto, Check Out Your Mind was the final Impressions album before Mayfield went solo. The addition of ‘Master’ Henry Gibson on percussion added some serious funk to the proceedings and there are many great moments of psychedelic soul and hippie funk on here. Mayfield was one of soul music’s most romantic songwriters too though and the gorgeous strings of ‘I Can’t See You’ could be from a 1950s doo-wop ballad. High-end, top quality soul and funk.
Initially a backing singer at Chess Records, Acklin wrote ‘Whispers (Getting’ Louder)’ for Jackie Wilson while working as a receptionist at Chicago’s Brunswick Records and went on to record six albums as well as writing hits for other artists. Seven Days… is a charming collection of elegant soul and gentle funk from 1969, featuring that Chi-soul combination of refined orchestration, sweet-sounding chords and melodies and a restrained but hearty rhythm section. Acklin has a distinctive, high register voice that she could make dramatic or vulnerable at will, the epic instrumentation here providing a suitably rich backing for her.
The production on the penultimate Impressions album from 1969 was expansive with lush orchestration and Mayfield’s falsetto is more-than-ably backed by his band members. They generally stick to an innocent, mid-sixties soul sound while all around them funk and psychedelia were taking over the soul world. However, the wonderfully buoyant brass arrangements of Johnny Pate and Donny Hathaway and Mayfield’s warming, uplifting songs make for a classy soul outing nonetheless, and the funky wah wah of final track ‘Mighty Mighty (Spade & Whitey)’ pointed toward the tougher direction Mayfield was about to take as a solo artist.
The stacked vocal harmonies and smooth orchestration of The Lost Generation’s 1970 debut are like a warm, enveloping duvet of sound. Produced by the Chi-Lite’s Eugene Record who would write and produce much 70s Chicago soul, the rhythm section is on point here but this isn’t funk, this is pure, sweet soul with sugary melodies and sweeping strings. The soft, mellow aesthetic here provided a smooth alternative to the emerging funk genre and the socially conscious lyrics of many of their soul contemporaries, and the nostalgic, gentle sound was a much-copied template.
His fourth album rather than second, Hutson II is considered in soul circles every bit as prestigious as his previous three. Leroy Hutson was a singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and arranger and took care of all these duties for this album. The material is exquisitely-put-together R’n’b/soul/funk, ranging from ballads, mid-tempo steppers, funky-soul and disco, to a couple of jazz-tinged funk instrumentals and the sublime orchestral piece ‘Situations’, making Huston II one of his most complete works. Hutson’s 70s albums are strangely underrated compared to his contemporaries but soul fans have always treasured them.
The first solo outing from Mayfield in 1970 is a tough, futurist, uncompromising soul album that mixes dark and confrontational songs with unselfconsciously romantic material. Mayfield used intricate layers of percussion and wah wah guitar combined with elegant, urbane orchestration to create epic, simmering funk epics. He made the most of his newfound freedom as a solo artist and the changes in recording technology to make a bold album, his confidence reflected in the lengthy tracks, orchestral passages and use of studio effects. Includes the full nearly-nine minute version of his super-charged ‘Move On Up’.