Chicago soul
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Chicago soul | |
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Stylistic origins |
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Chicago soul is a style of soul music that arose during the 1960s in Chicago. Along with Detroit, the home of Motown, and Memphis, with its hard-edged, gritty performers (see Memphis soul), Chicago and the Chicago soul style helped spur the album-oriented soul revolution of the early 1970s.
The sound of Chicago soul, like
Accompaniment usually featured highly orchestrated arrangements, with horns and strings, by such notable arrangers as Johnny Pate (who largely worked with horns) and Riley Hampton (who specialized in strings). This kind of soul music is sometimes called "soft soul", to distinguish it from the more harsh and gospel-like "hard soul" style.
Notable labels
A variety of labels in the city during the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the Chicago soul sound, most notably
Vee-Jay
Chess
OKeh
Brunswick
Brunswick Records is a New York-based label, but under the aegis of producer and A&R man Carl Davis in Chicago, the company produced a large body of Chicago style soul, beginning in 1966, when Jackie Wilson started recording in Chicago. Wilson's biggest hit with Davis was "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher." Other Brunswick artists included The Chi-Lites[4] ("Oh Girl"), The Artistics ("I'm Gonna Miss You"), Barbara Acklin ("Love Makes A Woman"), Tyrone Davis ("Turn Back the Hands of Time"), and Gene Chandler ("The Girl Don't Care"). Brunswick was eventually acquired by Carl Davis, and the offices moved to the Record Row (South Michigan Avenue).
Chi-Sound
Another label active in Chicago in the mid-to-late 1970s was Chi-Sound Records, under the production aegis of Carl Davis. Chi-Sound, besides recording the Chi-Lites, Dells, and Gene Chandler,[5] had a number of disco-soul acts between 1976 and 1982, including Windy City, Magnum Force, Sidney Joe Qualls (previously signed to the Brunswick Records subsidiary, Dakar, in the early 1970s), Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign and Manchild.[6]
ABC-Paramount
Mercury
In Chicago, Mercury Records was formed by Irving Green, Berle Adams, Arthur Talmadge and Ray Greenberg in 1945. The label released soul, R&B, doo-wop, blues, jazz, and pop music. From the 1950s to the 1980s, Mercury released records of musicians such as Jerry Butler, Phil Philips, the Platters, Brook Benton, Ohio Players, the Bar-Kays, Con Funk Shun, Cameo, Kool and the Gang, Kurtis Blow, Heaven & Earth and the Gap Band.[8]
One-derful
The One-derful label complex (One-derful, M-Pac, Mar-V-lus, Midas, Halo, Toddlin' Town) represented mostly the harder gospelly style of Chicago soul music. Its most notable artists were Otis Clay ("That's How It Is"), Harold Burrage ("Got to Find A Way"), McKinley Mitchell ("The Town I Live In"), and The Five Du-Tones ("Shake a Tail Feather"). The company also had dance hits with Alvin Cash and the Crawlers ("Twine Time"). The entire catalog has been purchased by Minneapolis-based Secret Stash Records.
Constellation
Constellation Records was formed in August 1963 by Ewart Abner, Bill "Bunky" Sheppard, and Art Sheridan. Abner was ousted from Vee-Jay, and took with him from Vee-Jay producer Bill "Bunky" Sheppard, and two Vee-Jay artists that were personally under contract to Abner, namely Gene Chandler and Dee Clark. Art Sheridan had run Chance Records in the early 1950s, and had been an investor in Vee-Jay. Chandler prospered at Constellation, getting huge national hits for the next three years, notably "Just Be True" and "Nothing Can Stop Me," while Dee Clark got only local hits, notably "Warm Summer Breezes" and "Heartbreak." Another Constellation artists were Lee Dorsey, Billy 'The Kid' Emerson and others.
Curtom
In 1980, Mayfield closed the Curtom office and moved to Atlanta, and not long afterwards Brunswick closed its office, which had by then moved to Chicago, as well. With these closings, and with disco and funk replacing traditional soul in popular appeal, Chicago soul music had effectively come to an end.
References
- ^ "Gene Chandler The Official Website*". Genechandler.com. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
- ^ Dahl, Bill. "Tell Mama > Overview". Allmusic. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
- ^ "Major Lance, "The Monkey Time" Chart Positions". Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ "The Chi-Lites R&B Single Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- AllMusic. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ Babyface was member of Manchild
- ^ Unterberger, Richie (n.d.). "Curtis Mayfield: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- ^ Gap Band AllMusic retrieved 20 December 2021
Sources
- Pruter, Robert (1991). Chicago Soul. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.