Leroy Hutson
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Tom Tom 84 goes Hollywood.
Tom Tom Washington (pictured at left) is basically my hero. He’s also a very humble and cool individual to be around. As a Chicagoan and a music lover, his distinctive Horn and String Arrangements are like home to me. Tom Tom came up in Chicago’s Ida B. Wells Projects and studied music under the tutelage…
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Groove Conspiracy… coming this Thursday.
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…
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Nolan Chance and the Beach: i’ll never forget you.
(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…
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Gone Away: a one-two-three chicago-bred punch of soul
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…
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Get Down With Us. Try it, You’ll like it…
It’s about to go down. Old Soul 45’s spun with love at the Morseland. Selections by me (DJ Ayana) and Gaucho. Join us this Thursday November 12 starting at 9:30pm. No Cover. The Morseland is located at 1218 West Morse in Chicago (just blocks from Sheridan). Here’s a sample of some of the proudly local…
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Natural Four: Soul, if only for a moment
By way of the Bay Area, it’s Chicago’s own Natural Four. They signed to Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records in 1972, after five years without a hit, and within a year they gave us this blue light basement classic: “Can This Be Real.” Inexplicably, the Natural Four never reached the success they deserved, dissolving in 1976. Robert…
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This Love’s For Real
This is a Local Chicago record also recorded by The Impressions (and written by Leroy Hutson). Very obscure. Very Lincoln-Continental-with-the-suicide-doors Gangster. Enjoy.
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Leroy Hutson: Love the Feeling (of good old Chicago Lean)
Originally from New Jersey, Leroy Hutson attended Howard University, eventually majoring in Music. It was during those years that Hutson met Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad, and Chicago’s own Donny Hathaway (who would become Hutson’s roommate). Hutson collaborated with Hathaway on “The Ghetto”, a smash 1970 hit (Hathaway’s first). In 1971, three…

