Traveling Soul

by Todd Mayfield

  “I had the ambition to want to be rich”: Salewicz, “Keep On Pushing.”

  “That Chicago weather”: Werner, Higher Ground, 232.

  “I’ve always felt that the mass”: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

  “The music scene was kind of drying up”: Werner, Higher Ground, 232.

  “Life isn’t just music”: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta, Movin’ On Up.

  “I saw the situation as an ideal opportunity”: Burns, People Never Give Up, 177–178.

  “At that time, I wasn’t so hot”: Werner, Higher Ground, 268.

  “I wanted it to be a lot funkier”: Burns, People Never Give Up, 179.

  “Curtis was there with his posse”: Abbey, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “I think he was kind of disillusioned”: Ibid.

  “I’ve been in this business”: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

  “The musicians gave me hell”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “I had to prove myself nightly”: Ibid.

  “He didn’t go on stage one time”: Ibid.

  “I didn’t tune to F-sharp”: Ibid.

  “Hey, cat—‘We People’”: Ibid.

  “There were no strings attached”: Hoskyns, review of Mayfield, Butler, and the Impressions at the Greek Theatre.

  “Curtis delivers sixty magical minutes”: Salewicz, “Keep On Pushing.”

  “After touring, Dad shut down”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “I felt like I couldn’t rely on him”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “We’ve all been disappointed a lot”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “Helen was extremely nice”: Ibid.

  “You have to create the conditions”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “I don’t feel that I’m a great success”: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

  “These are not easy times”: Werner, Higher Ground, 237.

  “In going where you have to go”: Bouchard, Hemingway, 119.

  “He enjoyed people”: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “I wouldn’t go out there”: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “Me and Theida, we got in”: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.

  “No one was taking care”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “It was very frustrating”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “I was managing the studio”: Ibid.

  “They didn’t have a record deal”: Abbey, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “It was something that Curtis”: Ibid.

  “Some of the tracks were very good”: Ibid.

  “I think all of us were very lucky”: Ibid.

  “You have to remember”: Werner, Higher Ground, 269.

  “Curtis Mayfield was hip-hop”: KRS-One, interview by Atria

  “I don’t see any great differences”: Werner, Higher Ground, 279.

  “It’s not that they can’t create”: Light, “Lasting Impression.”

  “We’re talking about character here”: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

  “Curtis Mayfield was making a comeback”: Markowitz, interview by Atria.

  13. Never Say You Can’t Survive

  “Listen, you get on stage”: Markowitz, interview by Atria.

  Markowitz ascended the stairs: Ibid.

  “I think so, but I can’t move”: Goodness, interview by Atria.

  “I knew what had happened”: Werner, Higher Ground, 267.

  “When I got there, he had”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “I remember reading a telegram”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “We arrived [at the venue]”: Light, “Lasting Impression.”

  “It happened, and it happened fast”: Williams, “Everything Was a Song.”

  “Aches come and go”: Werner, Higher Ground, 267.

  “He never said, ‘Why me?’”: Stuart, interview by Atria.

  “When I would go to visit”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “When I was a little girl”: Ibid.

  “At this point, there was no more”: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

  “He got mad from that bed”: Ibid.

  “I think overall I’m dealing”: Light, “Lasting Impression.”

  “Some good doctor somewhere may”: Ibid.

  “I’m a fifty-four-year-old quadriplegic”: Burns, People Never Give Up, 238.

  a national poll showed only 15 percent: Bauerlein et al., Civil Rights Chronicle.

  “I always said I would not be singing”: Gonzales, “Curtis Mayfield.”

  “It’s not about dying”: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta, Movin’ On Up.

  “I have ideas”: Burns, People Never Give Up, 223.

  “Curtis worked so long”: Van Nguyen, “Back to Living.”

  “[I can’t sing] in the manner”: Burns, People Never Give Up, 214–215.

  “It took all of my know how”: Ibid., 230.

  “My particular thing is how”: Werner, Higher Ground, 270.

  “Fusing elements of hip-hop on this CD”: Ibid., 286.

  “I’ve been doing this since I was seven”: Ibid., 287.

  “The honor that you bestowed upon [Curtis]”: “Marv Stuart Hyman on Curtis Mayfield at the Induction Ceremony,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame official website.

  “I don’t know anything about death”: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

  “As I sum it up”: Werner, Higher Ground, 287.

  Lasting Impressions

  “There’s the illusion that progress”: “Race Relations in Crisis,” The Open Mind.

  Bibliography

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  ———. “Curtis Mayfield: Love to the People.” Blues & Soul, June 1975.

  ———. “Curtis Mayfield: No Longer an Impression.” Blues & Soul, September 1970.

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  Anderson, Clive. Liner notes for Sweet Exorcist & Got to Find a Way. Charly Records, 2001.

  Anderson, Monroe. “From Superfly to Super Star.” Ebony, July 1973.

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  ———. “The Impressions: Part 2 of Our Interview with Original Member Sam Gooden” April 22, 2013. http://beldonsbluespoint.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-part-2-of-our-interview-with-sam.html.

  ———. “The Impressions: Part 3 of Our Interview with Original Member Sam Gooden” April 24, 2013. http://beldonsbluespoint.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-part-iii-of-our-interview-sam-gooden.html.

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  Farberman, Brad. “Q&A: The Impressions’ Fred Cash on Curtis Mayfield, Politics in the ’60s, and the Venues His Band Played Back in the Day.” Village Voice, July 19, 2012. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/07/the_impressions_fred_cash_interview.php.

  Foner, Philip S. The Black Panthers Speak. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.

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  ———. Liner notes for Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield, 25th anniversary ed. Rhino Records, 1997.

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  ———. “Gangster Boogie.” Wax Poetics, 2009.

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  ———. “The Curtom Story.” Blues & Soul, December 14, 1976.

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  ———. “Keep on Pushing: A Curtis Mayfield Tribute.”Guitar Player, June 1994.

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  ———. “Impressions Lose Curtis Mayfield.” October 1, 1970.

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  St. Pierre, Roger. “Curtis Mayfield: Where He’s Been and Where He’s Going.” Let It Rock, October 1972.

  ———. Review of Curtis Mayfield at the Rainbow, London. NME, January 29, 1972.

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  ———. Obituary for Major Lance. Indepdendent, September 12, 1994. www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-major-lance-1448552.html.

  ———. “Putting Something on Our Minds.” London Times, July 31, 1971.

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  ———. Review of Sweet Exorcist by Curtis Mayfield. AllMusic.com, accessed May 5, 2016. www.allmusic.com/album/got-to-find-a-way-mw0000186170.

  Interviews