The Soul And Songs Of Young Curtis Mayfield: The Spirit Of Chicago (Mono) (Remastered 2024) Jerry Butler, The Impressions, Wade Flemons, Gene Chandler, Betty Everett

• 1 For Your Precious Love (Remastered 2024) 02:45
• 2 The Gift Of Love (Remastered 2024) 02:43
• 3 At the County Fair (Remastered 2024) 02:04
• 4 Senorita I Love You (Remastered 2024) 02:33
• 5 A Long Time Ago (Remastered 2024) 02:24
• 6 Let Me Know (Remastered 2024) 02:42
• 7 Young Lover (Remastered 2024) 02:11
• 8 That You Love Me (Remastered 2024) 02:51
• 9 A New Love (Remastered 2024) 02:12
• 10 I Found A Love (Remastered 2024) 02:10
• 11 He Will Break Your Heart (Remastered 2024) 02:50
• 12 Thanks To You (Remastered 2024) 02:41
• 13 Find Another Girl (Remastered 2024) 02:53
• 14 When Trouble Calls (Remastered 2024) 02:41
• 15 At the Party (Remastered 2024) 02:22
• 16 Devil In Your Soul (Remastered 2024) 02:26
• 17 I'm A Telling You (Remastered 2024) 02:23
• 18 Aware Of Love (Remastered 2024) 02:14
• 19 Isle Of Sirens (Remastered 2024) 02:59
• 20 I'm the One (Remastered 2024) 02:13
• 21 Rainbow (Remastered 2024) 02:53
• 22 Man's Temptation (Remastered 2024) 02:44
• 23 A Woman With Soul (Remastered 2024) 02:15
• 24 Need To Belong (Remastered 2024) 03:00
• 25 I've Been Trying (Remastered 2024) 03:05
• 26 Just Be True (Remastered 2024) 02:31
• 27 It's All Right (Remastered 2024) 02:34
• Total Runtime 01:09:19

Info for The Soul And Songs Of Young Curtis Mayfield: The Spirit Of Chicago (Mono) (Remastered 2024)

New compilation showcasing the recording, producing and songwriting of Curtis Mayfield during his time on Vee-Jay Records in the late ’50s and early ’60s.

The Soul And Songs Of Young Curtis Mayfield chronicles the rapid growth of the young Black “Gentle Genius” who would leave a lasting mark on American music.

One of the greatest singers, songwriters and producers of his generation, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award winner Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999) left a lasting mark on American music with his influential brand of socially conscious soul music. Celebrated for his civil rights anthems with the Impressions and his groundbreaking solo albums, like Curtis (1970), Back to the World (1973) and the iconic Super Fly soundtrack (1972), the Chicago native first established his career in the city’s rich gospel and soul scene during the late ’50s and early ’60s.

Spanning 1958–1965, The Soul and Songs of Young Curtis Mayfield: Spirit of Chicago chronicles this period of rapid growth, focusing on the young artist’s foundational work behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer, as well as his early years with the Impressions (which he joined in 1958, serving as lead vocalist from 1960–70). In addition to a selection of tracks from the celebrated soul and doo-wop group—including Mayfield-penned classics like “Senorita I Love You” and “Young Lover”—the collection highlights Mayfield’s extensive work as a writer. His collaborations include hits with former Impressions frontman Jerry Butler, such as “He Will Break Your Heart,” “I’m a Telling You” and “Find Another Girl,” as well as tracks with Gene Chandler and future Earth, Wind & Fire co-founder Wade Flemons.

The audio has been remastered from the original analog tapes by Paul Blakemore and the package includes new liner notes from noted rock historian Jim Miller.

Jerry Butler
Jerry Butler and the Impressions
Wade Flemons
Gene Chandler
Jerry Butler & Betty Everett

Digitally remastered

Jerry Butler
began his music career at age 12 in Knoxville, TN with the Knoxville Newgrass Boys, a local band which also included bandmate Phil Leadbetter. This band traveled regionally and among others performed at the White House in 1976 as part of the Nation’s Bicentennial. Jerry's mother Pat, who grew up in Columbus, GA was also very talented. She played the piano and later became a skilled banjo player. The two of them enjoyed playing and singing together and actually played in a local bluegrass band together until Jerry left for college in 1980 where he majored in music at Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN. Jerry received an Associate In Music degree from Cumberland University in 1982.

Jerry has performed in a range of venues, churches and festivals across Georgia throughout his travels including Hoofer’s, Lagrange, GA; Sawnee Mtn Music, Cumming, GA; Red Light Café Atlanta, GA; Everett’s Music Barn Suwanee, GA; and many festivals including Blairsville, Hiawassee, Lavonia, Guyton, Jekyll Island, Cartersville, Tompkinsville, Jonesboro, Sutallee, Stone Mountain State Park, Hoboken, Lincolnton as well as others.

Currently Jerry performs daily with the Smoky Mountain String Band at Dollywood Theme Park Pigeon Forge, TN. Other special mentions include:Performed nationally and abroad as the lead singer and guitarist for Pine Mountain Railroad, Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, and The Blu-J's.

The Impressions
The quintessential Chicago soul group, the Impressions' place in R&B history would be secure if they'd done nothing but launch the careers of soul legends Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. But far more than that, the Impressions recorded some of the most distinctive vocal-group R&B of the '60s under Mayfield's guidance. Their style was marked by airy, feather-light harmonies and Mayfield's influentially sparse guitar work, plus, at times, understated Latin rhythms. If their sound was sweet and lilting, it remained richly soulful thanks to the group's firm grounding in gospel tradition; they popularized the three-part vocal trade-offs common in gospel but rare in R&B at the time, and recorded their fair share of songs with spiritual themes, both subtle and overt. Furthermore, Mayfield's interest in the Civil Rights movement led to some of the first socially conscious R&B songs ever recorded, and his messages grew more explicit as the '60s wore on, culminating in the streak of brilliance that was his early-'70s solo work. The Impressions carried on without Mayfield, but only matched their earlier achievements in isolated instances, and finally disbanded in the early '80s.

The Impressions were formed in Chicago in 1957 as a doo wop group called the Roosters, a group of Chattanooga, Tennessee, transplants that included vocalists Sam Gooden and brothers Richard and Arthur Brooks. Lead singer Jerry Butler joined up and soon brought in his friend Curtis Mayfield as guitarist; the two had previously sung together in a church choir and a couple of local gospel groups as youths. Renamed the Impressions by their manager, the group scored a major hit in 1958 with the classic ballad "For Your Precious Love," which hit the pop Top 20 and the R&B Top Five. Butler's gospel-inflected lead vocal was a departure from the norm, and the fact that the single billed him in front of the rest of the group foreshadowed his quick exit for a solo career, after just one more single ("Come Back My Love"). With new vocalist Fred Cash in tow, Mayfield took over the lead tenor role, eventually becoming the group's chief composer as well. First, though, he hit the road as guitarist and musical director for Butler's backing band, and also co-wrote some of Butler's earliest singles, including the R&B number one "He Will Break Your Heart" in late 1960.

Mayfield's success as a songwriter encouraged him to form his own publishing company. With the money he earned by working with Butler, he reconvened the Impressions and brought them to New York to record for ABC-Paramount in 1961. Their first single, the Latin-inflected "Gypsy Woman," was a number two R&B smash, also reaching the pop Top 20. Several follow-ups failed to duplicate its chart success, and the Brooks brothers left the group in 1962; now down to a trio, the Impressions returned to Chicago and began recording with arranger Johnny Pate, whose horn and string embellishments added a bit more heft to their sound. They struck gold in 1963 with "It's All Right," whose gospel-style lead-swapping helped make it not only their first R&B number one, but their biggest pop hit as well, with a peak of number four. The same year, they issued their eponymous first LP, which many critics still consider one of their finest. 1964 brought the hit single "Keep on Pushing," the first of Mayfield's numerous Black pride anthems (though at this stage, his sentiments were much less explicit than they would later become). The album of the same name also featured a marching-beat cover of the gospel standard "Amen," inspired by the song's inclusion in the Sidney Poitier film Lilies of the Field. Gospel also informed what became perhaps the best-known Impressions hit, 1965's "People Get Ready"; if its lyrics weren't overtly political, Mayfield's intent was clear, as the song became an anthem of transcendence for the civil rights movement and an oft-covered soul standard.

The mid-'60s saw Mayfield trying to keep pace with the Motown hit factory by incorporating elements of its style into his own writing. The group recorded prolifically in 1965, but their commercial fortunes dropped off over the next couple of years. When the Impressions returned to the upper reaches of the R&B charts, it was with 1968's "We're a Winner," the most straightforward celebration of Black pride Mayfield had yet composed. That summer, the group left ABC to record for Mayfield's newly formed Curtom imprint, which allowed them greater freedom in terms of the lyrical content Mayfield wanted to pursue. More aggressive message tracks like "This Is My Country," "Choice of Colors," and "Check Out Your Mind" followed over the next couple of years, as did some of the group's most consistent albums, particularly The Young Mods' Forgotten Story (1969). 1970's Check Out Your Mind was Mayfield's final album with the Impressions, but the group remained on Curtom after his departure, and he continued to write and produce some of their material.

Mayfield was replaced on lead vocals by Leroy Hutson, who debuted on LP with 1972's Times Have Changed. At this point, the Impressions were still overshadowed by their ex-leader, who was riding high with brilliant works like Superfly. But Mayfield's solo momentum cooled down a bit, and after Hutson departed in 1973, new singers Ralph Johnson and Reggie Torian joined Cash and Gooden for the R&B chart-topper "Finally Got Myself Together (I'm a Changed Man)," cut with ex-Motown producer Ed Townsend in 1974. Townsend continued to work with the group for the next couple of years with some success, but in 1976 Johnson left to join the unsuccessful Mystique. Around that point, the Impressions parted ways with Curtom; Nate Evans replaced Johnson, and the group recorded for Cotillion and 20th Century/Chi-Sound with little chart success. Evans eventually departed, leaving the group a trio again. They recorded their final album, Fan the Fire, in 1981; Gooden and Cash occasionally reunited with Mayfield and sometimes Butler for touring commitments. Mayfield was paralyzed in a heartbreaking stage accident in 1990 when a lighting scaffold toppled over on him; he passed away in 1999. Founding member Sam Gooden died on August 4, 2022 in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee; he was 87 years old. (AllMusicGuide)

Wade Flemons
A founding member of Earth, Wind and Fire, in Chicago Wade Flemons was first discovered by Vee Jay Records and would become well known for his work in the jingle studios when Chicago was the center of commercial advertising production work.

Wade Flemons (9/25/40-10/13/93) was introduced to gospel music by his father, who was a minister. Growing up in Battle Creek, Michigan he had already started writing and recording. Signed by Vee Jay Records when he was only 17 years old when he had his first chart hit “Here I Stand” credited as Wade Flemons and the New Comers. The success of the single provided the impetus to produce an album, the self-titled Wade Flemons issued in 1959. That led to a lengthy relationship with Vee Jay releasing 15 singles over the period 1958-65. “Here I Stand” would reach #19 on the Billboard R&B chart. In his Vee Jay catalog, “Easy Lovin” would climb to #10 in 1960, with “Please Send Me Someone to Love” peaking at #20.

Flemons would not be out doing the club market like so many others. Instead he entrenched himself in the lucrative jingle market, writing commercial advertising jingles. One of his writing partners was Maurice White. White had been a session drummer for Chess Records, and was also a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio. So when Flemons’ time with Vee Jay came to a close, White helped him make a move over to Ramsey Lewis’ fledgling Ramsel label.

With White and Flemons writing jingles, they added another songwriter to the team with Don Whitehead. The trio was able to land a contract with Capitol Records, where they released the single “La, La, La” calling themselves the Salty Peppers. A second single didn’t fare as well and White decided to pull up stakes and head to California.

There, he began to shop tapes of demo material he had produced with Donny Hathaway, inking a deal with Warner Bros. Records. He would put the band together as Earth, Wind and Fire with Wade Flemons and Sherry Scott as lead vocalists. Flemons would be involved in the group’s first two albums for Warner Bros. Even though the albums did well, all was not well internally with the group. Flemons, along with most of the rest of the band left, leaving Maurice and his brother Verdine to regroup.

Gene Chandler
was born Eugene Drake Dixon on July 6, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois. He had one brother, Richard Dixon, a member of the Dukays, R&B group. Before graduating from Englewood High School in Chicago in 1955, Chandler formed the doo-wop vocal group, the Gaytones. In 1957, however, he joined his brother and became the lead singer of the Dukays. Months later he was drafted into the United States Army and stationed in Germany until his honorable discharge in 1960.

Upon being released from the Army, Chandler immediately returned to the Dukays, and in 1961, Nat Records, which had signed the group, released “Nite Owl.” Also, in 1961 Chandler along with Bernice Williams, and Earl Edwards wrote “Duke of Earl.” For reasons unknown, they were unable to record the song and Vee-Jay Records, after hearing it, offered a contract only to Chandler. He recorded it and Vee-Jay released it in 1962. The song raced to the top of the Billboard charts and sold a million copies in two months. With his new-found fame Chandler was featured in the 1963 film, Don’t Knock the Twist, singing “Duke of Earl.”

Despite his success as a solo artist, Chandler remained with the Dukays and they again in 1963 released “Nite Owl.” It peaked at #73 on Billboard Hot 100 chart that same year. Chandler left Vee-Jay, and in 1964, he had a Top 20 pop hit which Curtis Mayfield produced called “Just Be True,” and a Top 20 pop hit in 1965, “Nothing Can Stop Me.” In 1969, Chandler bought Bamboo Records and Mr. Chand Records. He then released the soul hit, “Backfield in Motion,” which became his second million-selling hit, reaching #10 on the pop chart.

In 1970, Chandler’s “Duke of Earl” received a gold disc awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A) and was awarded The National Association of Television and Radio Announcers “Producer of the Year.” In addition, he teamed with Jerry Butler for the album Gene and Jerry: One on One on the Mercury label. In 1973, Chandler guest-starred with Curtis Mayfield and Butler on the album Curtis in Chicago.

During the height of the Disco era in 1979, Chandler was named executive vice president at Chi-Sound Records and released a series of songs on the label that became hits in the United Kingdom, including “Get Down” that peaked at # 53 in the United States.

Chandler released, Your Love Looks Good to Me, a full-length album on the Fast-fire label in 1985.

In 1997 Chandler was inducted as a Pioneer Award honoree into the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. In 2002, Chandler’s “Duke Of Earl” was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame. At the age of 68 in 2005, Chandler teamed with Jerry Butler, Ben E. King and Lloyd Price as the 4 Kings of Rhythm & Blues and toured throughout the United States.

Chandler was married to Lillie J. Kennard from Olympia Fields, Illinois. She died in 2013. They had one son, Drake.

In 2016, Gene Chandler was inducted into the R&B Music Hall of Fame. A Chicago street was named in his honor because of his musical and philanthropic contributions. Chandler continues to be an influential music icon at 84.

This album contains no booklet.