Curtis Mayfield and the Black Rock Connection

While Curtis Mayfield was always been considered one of the greatest soul voices to come out of Chicago, his guitar playing was often so understated that rock fans used to the dramatics of Jimmy Page, Prince or Carlos Santana might be weary to cite him as an influence. Yet, since the days when he was still strumming an acoustic while singing churchy sounding songs “It’s All Right” and “Amen” with the Impressions, his playing was an influence on dudes like Clapton, Beck and Steve Winwood.

Another fan of the Impressions (and of Curtis’ guitar playing) was Jimi Hendrix. According to Jimi Hendrix: In His Own Words (Omnibus Press, 1994), the voodoo chile rocker once said, “I like the Impressions…they’re some people that need to be really, really respected. See, these are classical composers. I don’t care what their music sounds like today, because today, as things are happening at that particular time, the people that’s in that particular time don’t really know the value of it until it dies off. But now people really have to start learning the value of things as they’re living today.”



Almost makes you wish brother Jimi could’ve lived long enough to see Curtis throwing down with wah-wah, feedback, fuzz and other electro-gadgets that caused strange music to erupt from the speakers. Tracks like “Billy Jack,” Kung Fu,” “Future Shock” and “Freddy’s Dead” captured a whole new level of racial angst and musical distortion in his grooves and licks.

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The Black Rock Report

As a card-carrying member of the Black Rock Coalition since 1986, I take much pride in the advancement of alternative Black music filtering into the mainstream. From those nappy haired superstars of the scene The Roots (you mean you really thought them cats were hip-hop?) and avant-rockers TV On The Radio to newcomers like Lil Wayne (what, somebody told you that dude was a rapper?) and the formidable Santigold, the movement is going hard, and no longer relegated to crowded downtown clubs after midnight.

At last month’s Afro-Punk Music and Art Festival in Brooklyn, it was fantastic seeing small children dancing to the blare of Earl Greyhound and Tamar-Kali, groundbreaking artists you will never hear played on segregated “urban” radio.

Like hip-hop, being “Black Rock” involves aesthetic and lifestyle choices that can’t be easily pegged. Veterans like Living Colour and Fishbone are still holding it down under the broad umbrella of “Black Rock,” while newcomers Gnarls Barkley and Saul Williams are busy expanding on their own ideas of alternative music. And does it even need to be said? You know they’ve all got soul.

With the Black Rock Report, it is our plan to report on upcoming releases, interview folks behind the scene (singers, producers, and writers) and school the masses on classic artists who continue to define the Black alternative milieu.

illustration copyright (c) Jermaine Rogers

http://soulsummer.com/ezine/feature-stories/the-black-rock-report