Subject: Curtis Mayfield R.I.P. From: Peter Stone BrownDate: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 22:17:29 -0500 One of the all-time greats of R&B and rock and roll, Curtis Mayfield died today. Mayfield had been seriously ill for the past nine years after being paralyzed in an on-stage accident when a lighting rig fell on him while performing in Brooklyn. Mayfield wrote many classic hits for the Impressions, Jerry Butler and other artists such as Major Lance, including such songs as "For Your Precious Love" and "People Get Ready." Among his foremost accomplishments was bringing topical songs into R&B, championing the civil rights movement of the '60s which such tunes as "Keep On Pushing," "We're A Winner" and "Choice of Colors." Why mention it here? Well, Dylan recorded "People Get Ready" a couple of times, and it is obvious he was influenced by Mayfield (the Impressions' "Keep On Pushing" album is on the "Bringing It All Back Home" cover) and I suspect Mayfield was influenced by Dylan as well. Mayfield was also a great and distinctive guitarist, and the Mayfield influence can be found in Dylan's own guitar playing every now and then as well as some arrangements of his songs, especially during the last decade, from the recent performances of "Ring Them Bells" to the '95 Electric Factory rendition of "Every Grain of Sand" which had a guitar interlude that was pure Mayfield. Even though he could no longer perform, Mayfield continued to sing, write and record. This is another major loss. -- "Where the angels' voices whisper to the souls of previous times." --Bob Dylan Peter Stone Brown e-mail: peterb@erols.com http://store.yahoo.com/tangible-music/petstonbrowi.html
Subject: Re: Curtis Mayfield R.I.P. From: Lloyd FonvielleDate: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 23:47:51 -0800 ... I've also read that Robertson was listening to Mayfield a lot around the time of the Basement Tapes. You can hear Mayfield in Robertson's guitar style, and I think Robertson himself once credited Mayfield as an inspiration for the sound he was going for on the early Band albums -- an anti-wall-of-sound feel, where all the musical elements were distinctive and tasty in their own right.