It was last summer. I was privileged enough to hear the iconic (and prolific) arranger Tom Tom Washington play a few chords of the tune “There’ll Come a Time” on a piano stationed at a Recording Studio on 80th and Stony Island, where in the vacant lot next door they grew cabbage.
It was electric, especially because Betty Everett’s “There’ll Come a Time” (released in 1969 on Uni Records) was one of the first Chicago Soul albums I ever owned. It was also exciting because Tom Tom Washington arranged some of my favorite cuts on the album (we both agreed on our favorite: “1900 Yesterday” (below), sort of an off-kilter swinging 60s dance cut).
On the album, Betty’s sassy-yet-classy salty mezzo-soprano voice was perfectly augmented by swirling strings, staccato horns, shuffling doo-wop background vocals, and rollicking piano. Featuring compositions by Eugene Record (of the Chi-Lites), Curtis Mayfield, and Eddie Sullivan (of the Classic Sullivans), the album serves as a snapshot of Chicago Soul at the time.
Above, listen to Betty Everett’s classic “There’ll Come Time”. You can hear the cut “1900 Yesterday”, by clicking the “continue reading” icon below… Jive on!
Join DJ Ayana and Simeon Viltz (of the Primeridian) as we stretch out musically at Morseland. I’ll be spinning with a Chicago accent, as always, and will be featuring local treasures including a cut or two by Leroy Hutson. A college friend of both Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack (all attended Howard University), Hutson was on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in the 1970s (listen below to 1976′s “Lover’s Holiday”, and for more on Leroy, click here).
This 1976 record by Chicago’s own Curtis Mayfield used to be a favorite spin in my College Radio days. It’s been back on my radar in recent days. “Give a little bit, Get a little bit, Take a little bit” picks up on the theme of the classic “Give Me Your Love” with an offer for a more even exchange. Very lean groove, yet it somehow still has a whole bunch going on (check the masterful guitar work). Jive on!
The Eight Minutes were yet another family based kiddie soul group out of Chicago. Oh yes, there were a bunch. For those just joining us, let’s recap:
There’s The Five Stairsteps: The Burke Family is of course best known for “Oooh Ooh Child”, but recorded a number of classy Chicago cuts on Curtis Mayfield‘s stable of labels in the sixties (some of which were penned by Mayfield himself)
Of Course, Gary, Indiana gave rise to The Jackson Five a few years later… The first cut was “Big Boy”, cut on Steeltown records well before Motown took notice
By the late sixties/early seventies came a slew of others, including Brighter Side of Darkness (known for “Love Jones”) and The Eight Minutes. Phew…..
Anyway, the Eight Minutes mainly consisted of the children of two families: the Sudduths and the Goggins, plus Juwanna Glover and Carl Monroe. They started out in the late sixties on the Zago/Porter family of labels here in Chicago, releasing a bunch of rare, funky, danceable cuts, including: “Here’s Some Dances” and “Ain’t got Time”. They put out a couple more singles, both related to Perception Records out of New York, who also released a very rare LP by the group, titled “American Family”. Even though the group had a very high level of quality in their records, they never really impacted the charts, disbanding soon after the release of their only album.
Eight Minutes Discography:
Jay Pee 100 – Take My Love And Set Me Free (Part 1) / Take My Love And Set Me
Free (Part 2) – 1968
Jay Pee 125 – Oh Yes I Do / Time For A Change -
1968
Jay Pee 130 – Will You Still Be Mine / Here’s Some Dances – 1968
Jay
Pee 200 – Take My Love, Don’t Set Me Free / Let’s Sign A Peace Treaty -
1969
Perception 511 – Next Time He’ll Be Good / I Can’t Wait -
1972
Perception 533 – Looking For A Brand New Game / Find One Who Loves You -
1973
(photos: Labor Day 1936 at 31st Street Beach, Chicago) found at bvikkivintage
I love “I’ll Never Forget You” by Nolan Chance. Released here in Chicago in 1969, its creation was a collaboration between Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, and Leroy Hutson (arguably the patron saints of Chicago Soul for the decade that was to come). The song has aural dream sequences: One moment, Nolan is reminiscing the sand-in-shoes good times spent with his lost love. The music is floaty, featuring dreamy keys and a güiro, the same scraping percussion instrument in the Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk”.
The next moment, Nolan is snapped back into reality and the music features rhythmic, ebbing horns that recede like the tide. It makes me want to go to the beach. Enjoy the pictures and the music….
NOTE: Nolan Chance (born Charles David) was raised in LaGrange, IL, and was at one time a member of the Artistics. Another record of his that I picked up based on my love for “I’ll Never Forget You” is “I’d Like to Make it With You”, the B-side of “Sara Lee” (released in 1972, and NOT the same song as the similarly titled ”Make it With You” by Bread). Great sassy Chicago brass and pulsating rhythm. Jive on.
Performing below (in Ghana, circa 1971) is Roberta Flack. She is singing “Gone Away”… a cool, loping soul record from her album “Chapter Two”. This record was written by the one-two-three Chicago-bred punch of Leroy Hutson, Curtis Mayfield, and Donny Hathaway (before his own breakout single “The Ghetto”). ”Gone Away” was also recorded by The Impressions and Lovelace Watkins (in a Chicago recording session) around the same time, 1970. Look for the crescendo around 3:00 (sampled for T.I.’s hit “Whatchu Know About It”). Jive on!
I remember where I was when I first heard this: the local round-the-way record store. The carpet was checkered with the maytag logo in bittersweet on brown (harkening back to the store’s past life). There we stood in a communal experience that began with the shop owner saying, “You’ve got to hear this record”. We stood waiting. Waiting melted away to awe. Nine minutes later we knew life was a bit different…just wait for the progression of the track. It blossoms and eventually bursts.
“Dancing Girl” is from the album, “What Color is Love” (Cadet, 1973). A great record for a chilled autumn day.
Terry Callier was a childhood friend of Curtis Mayfield and co-wrote numerous Chicago Records for artists as diverse as the Soulful Strings, The Dells, and Garland Green. He spent much of the eighties and nineties as a single father, raising his daughter, Sundiata, and working at the University of Chicago.
He returned to recording in the late nineties to critical acclaim, and released “Hidden Conversations” (his fifth album in 10 years) this year. It features Massive Attack.
From Jerry Butler’s little brother, Billy, it’s “I’ll Bet You”. Jerry Butler, of course, was a member of the Impressions (as well as one of the most successful solo acts in Chicago Soul history). Billy never quite made it out from the shadow of his superstar brother, but he made a few valiant efforts: among them, “Right Track”, and this George Clinton and Sidney Barnes-penned mover, later recorded by Funkadelic.
Billy started his career at Chicago’s Okeh Records with a group called the Enchanters (later the Chanters). He was a talented songwriter and guitarist who credited both his brother, Jerry, and Curtis Mayfield for sparking his interest in music. The artists used to rehearse in the Butler living room.
Later in his career, he recorded with a group called Infinity, but ultimately ended his career solo on Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records with the rare 70s groover “Sugar Candy Lady”.
The year was 1972. The Year of his “Superfly” soundtrack (arguably, one of the best albums ever to come out of Chicago), and Curtis Mayfield could do no wrong…including this record, produced by Mayfield (and arranged by Rich Tufo). A sixteen year old Nashvillian named Patti Jo says to some Cassanova, “ain’t no love lost“. A monster record, then and now. Manic congas, soaring strings, symphonic piano chords, and a pulsing guitar echo the very best that the Superfly soundtrack had to offer (but “Lost” was never released on any album). Two years later, Curtis recorded his own version of the song. Unbelievably, neither made any impact on the charts of the time. In fact, I went through some serious changes to get this original 45 single.
NOTE: I’ve heard multiple (reputable) accounts that Curtis Mayfield wrote the soundtrack for Superfly before he saw the completed movie, and didn’t know that the film glorified a drugged-out, masochistic lifestyle. This may explain why the soundtrack is so against drug abuse. Rolling Stone’s Bob Donat actually said in a 1972 review of the album, that “the anti-drug message on [Mayfield's soundtrack] is far stronger and more definite than in the film.”
Local artist/instrumentalist Khari Lemuel performing his song “Come With Me” with Yaw (video by Bobby Rocwell)….Super talented brother who I’ve seen perform live multiple times. His voice combines some of the best elements of Chicago Soul’s legacy: rootsiness, spirituality, truth, and beauty.
Below, Khari’s composition “Good Morning Love” summons the power of Curtis Mayfield (and arranger Johnny Pate) in their Impressions days. The bells and snare brush conjure church, smoky jazz club, and brownstone rooftop at dawn simultaneously (quite a feat).
“Good Morning Love”
(NOTE: listen toThe Impressions do the bell-and-brush back in 1964, below)
“Long, Long, Winter” (from the album “Keep on Pushing”)
According to Khari Lemuel’s official Bio:
[He] knows he will one day rise into heaven on a cloud of musical composition. For him music is a daily meditation; an alter where he can unfold the purpose of his life. Above all, Khari Lemuel is an artist painting with sound, composition and the mystical force of creation. Since the age of 3, Lemuel has been studying the instrumental aspect of music. First on cello then moving to flute, bass, guitar, violin, keys, trumpet and voice.
click here for more snippets of his album, Morning Music, or to purchase tracks.
It was last summer. I was privileged enough to hear the iconic (and prolific) arranger Tom Tom Washington play a few chords of the tune “There’ll Come a Time” on a piano stationed at a Recording Studio on 80th and Stony Island, where in the vacant lot next door they grew cabbage.
especially because Betty Everett’s “There’ll Come a Time” (released in 1969 on Uni Records) was one of the first Chicago Soul albums I ever owned. It was also exciting because Tom Tom Washington arranged some of my favorite cuts on the album (we both agreed on our favorite: “1900 Yesterday” (below), sort of an off-kilter swinging 60s dance cut).
The year was 1972. The Year of his “Superfly” soundtrack (arguably, one of the best albums ever to come out of Chicago), and Curtis Mayfield could do no wrong…including this record, produced by Mayfield (and arranged by Rich Tufo). A sixteen year old Nashvillian named Patti Jo says to some Cassanova, “ain’t no love lost“. A monster record, then and now. Manic congas, soaring strings, symphonic piano chords, and a pulsing guitar echo the very best that the Superfly soundtrack had to offer (but “Lost” was never released on any album). Two years later, Curtis recorded his own version of the song. Unbelievably, neither made any impact on the charts of the time. In fact, I went through some serious changes to get this original 45 single. 
Local artist/instrumentalist Khari Lemuel performing his song “Come With Me” with Yaw (video by Bobby Rocwell)….Super talented brother who I’ve seen perform live multiple times. His voice combines some of the best elements of Chicago Soul’s legacy: rootsiness, spirituality, truth, and beauty.
