Curtis Mayfield: Traveling Soul

There are two Mayfields here–father Curtis (b. 1942) and son Todd. You know Curtis Mayfield, the Chicago rhythm and blues and soul music giant (leader of The Impressions and composer of the movie soundtrack Super Fly). In this book, Traveling Soul: The Life of Curtis Mayfield, Todd writes of his Dad’s music and personal life, including his alleged womanizing and tendency to lock himself in his room away from the family—in the early years composing music and later hiding his drug use. These grim occasions are visited many times in this book, interwoven with stories of kindness from interviewed Curtis Mayfield offspring. I encourage you to focus your read upon the artful life and times of this music genius.

The earliest influence was Rev. A. B. Mayfield, Curtis’s grandmother, a seer and preacher working out of a storefront basement with a congregation called Travelling Souls on Chicago’s south side. Curtis began singing spirituals, but in high school soon discovered secular music. He formed the Alphatones, and the group rehearsed in a Chicago park pavilion where the air was rich with vocal melodies from several doo-wop groups. Mark Mayfield claims there were no gangs in Chicago in the mid-fifties–music was an outlet.

The Impressions first pop hit, “For Your Precious Love,” was sung by leader Jerry Butler. Butler and Curtis attended Wells High School together and survived those years living in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing project. But, as a result of a group name dispute, Butler was to leave the group for a solo career. Within a few months, Butler had lost his guitar player and Curtis, valued for his unique guitar sound arising from his open F sharp tuning, was asked to tour as a replacement. Married at age 17, Curtis was selling cigars to white businessmen in Chicago’s Loop when he received the call from Butler; he swallowed his pride, sidestepped his IRS difficulties, and went back on the road supporting his friend.

As the new vocal leader of The Impressions, Curtis used his clear falsetto voice to score a succession of five hit songs. Todd Mayfield writes, “Dad booked a session at Universal Studios in Chicago to cut ‘Gypsy Woman.’ Another friend, Eddie Thomas, Jerry Butler’s manager, is credited for getting the tune national exposure by pushing the side on Philadelphia deejays… it took off in Philly… the fire spread (to other cities)… Eddie was slowly creating a radio smash.” With radio followed by television exposure, the Impressions earned a major recording contract.

The success of a recording was measured by the album or single rising to a position on the Billboard Pop or R&B charts and staying there for any number of weeks. Also to be answered: did the work cross over into the white market? What did the critics think? What is next? These are questions that shadowed the recording musician of the time period. The book’s authors cover the field thoroughly, and the reader can follow Curtis’s musical ups and downs by comparing successive album chart data.

The writers provide an argument for Curtis being a workhorse—maybe James Brown was the hardest working man in show business, but Mayfield had the composition credits, live performance dates and movie scores to challenge or surpass anyone in the 1970s, including Brown, Smokey Robinson, and Marvin Gaye. At one time, Curtis had six publication companies providing copyright materials for The Impressions and other hot artists—Major Lance, Gene Chandler, Aretha Franklin, etc.

After separating from the Impressions after eleven years of team cooperation, Curtis could independently address and reflect upon the dark times of a fading civil rights movement, the increased violence, and his ambiguous relationship with his children’s mother. The songs “Hell Below” and “Move On Up” aimed to challenge both blacks and whites to question their own social and civil ambivalence. In his albums, Mayfield could spin and soothe with a song of love and respect, and then interject with a “but, excuse me” pointed accusation of “take a look at yourself” before all progress made slips away. We were all a little embarrassed with this call to accountability. Curtis Mayfield, like other successful black artists, was looked to for inspiration and tone-setting during the 1950s and 60s. The authors say he delivered exhaustively on this matter.

Mayfield, Todd with Travis Atria. Traveling Soul: The Life of Curtis Mayfield. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press. 2017. I checked out and read a copy from DPL, indexed 782.421644 Mayfield.