It is a time of dwindling hope and diminishing dreams in the inner city, a time when even entertainers such as Tupac Shakur and Eazy E are not immune to the mayhem of ghetto life wrought by gangs, drugs and AIDS. More than ever, the music of Curtis Mayfield–full of common-sense wisdom and social insight but, above all, compassion and humanity–is needed.
And, after a long silence following a freak stage accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, Curtis Mayfield has responded with his first new album of music since 1990, “New World Order” (Warner Bros), due out Tuesday.
“I don’t claim to be anyone’s prophet. I’m not any saint. I am not a perfect man,” Mayfield says. The voice is soft, barely above a whisper, but the cadence and delivery are that of a seasoned orator, the demeanor that of a man who knows he does not need to speak loudly to be heard. With his stocking cap and salt-and-pepper beard, the singer looks both elfin and regal in his throne-like wheelchair.
“However,” Mayfield continues, “it has never been about `me.’ It’s always `we.’ I started out with a group, and it was always `we.’ I have a new song that says `The world is oh, so beautiful,’ and it truly is, if we could just straighten out a few of the kinks. It seems like it never will work, but I don’t see it that way. I haven’t been around vocally for a number of years, and people on the streets, they’re telling me, `When are we going to hear Curtis’ point of view?’ It’s almost like they came and got me. So, here I am.”
It is, as they say on the street corner, time for this King Solomon of rhythm and blues, this former resident of Cabrini Green turned pop philosopher, to get busy. Or, as Aretha Franklin succinctly puts it at the end of her cameo vocal on one of Mayfield’s new songs, “Back to Living Again”: “Go ‘head, Mayfield.”
Conversing with Mayfield in a spacious suite in a midtown Manhattan hotel, one is struck by the passion that radiates from this graying 54-year-old soul patriarch. Although on the morning of this particular day Mayfield was forced to cancel some appointments because his blood pressure had become perilously low, the scene is now mirthful, celebratory, with Mayfield trading wisecracks with his Chicago-based manager Marv Heiman and a couple of attendants–and why not? “New World Order” isn’t just a personal triumph, it is an artistic one, a beguilingly brilliant album. And in two weeks its title song will be prominently featured in the movie and soundtrack for Spike Lee’s new movie about the Million Man March, “Get on the Bus.”
Making his comeback
It may be hard to believe that Mayfield co-wrote, co-produced and sang 13 songs for a new album; only two years ago he was questioning his ability to ever perform again. In a 1994 interview, Mayfield said he surprised himself by mustering the strength to sing a lone vocal on a tribute album done in his honor that year, “All Men Are Brothers: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield” (Warner Bros.). To complete his vocal tracks, Mayfield must be in a supine position and says because of that he doubts he will ever be able to perform on stage again.
Of even greater concern, he was still uncertain about his ability to compose music, now that he was deprived of the ability to use his most trusted companion, his guitar.
But Mayfield began regular writing sessions with a gifted young musician and composer named Rosmary Woods, who would come to Mayfield’s home outside Atlanta, where he has lived since moving from Chicago in 1980. Woods would bring Mayfield snippets of ideas on a computer and Mayfield would respond by singing lyrics and melody lines.
“Our first song together was `Back to Living Again,’ ” Mayfield says. “Rosmary had put some music together but her song was about something else, which I didn’t like. But I liked the music, and I had this idea from the movie `The Shawshank Redemption,’ in which (the actor) Morgan Freeman says something like, `Either you’re busy dying or get busy living.’ And that’s what made me come to terms with `Back to Living Again.’ “
There’s always someone to pull you down
You just get back up and hold your ground
–“Back to Living Again”
When it is suggested that the words of encouragement are directed as much at the singer as they are at a troubled world, Mayfield nods. “Definitely. I believe that had a lot to do with that song. For me, it was time to get back to living again. . . .
“I was resolved to the idea that I would never make another album. I’ve done this all my life, since I was 14. It’s the only job I’ve ever had, except the one time I worked for Alfred Dunhill on Michigan Avenue. Otherwise, playing guitar, writing songs is all I know. I have had a decent life. I made enough money to take care of my family, raise my (11) kids, and take myself to a couple of other levels financially after coming out of Cabrini Green and going to nine grammar schools. You look back on where you come from and you see your kids doing a little bit better than you did, that’s part of the master plan.”
Yet for all of Mayfield’s grace in the face of personal tragedy, he could not shut off the pipeline to his artistic muse. “I’m the kind of guy who is ready for happenings,” he says. “I don’t always prepare for things, other than to keep house, finance and family intact. Songs I do not hastily put together. I wait till it happens. When they arrive, I go to work.”
As word spread that Mayfield was working on new music, he began getting calls from well-wishers who wanted to help get those songs on disc. A young songwriter named Brian Fleming brought in the skeleton of a song that would become “New World Order,” renowned producers Narada Michael Walden, Organized Noize and Darryl Simmons, among others, came knocking, and the great Franklin called and demanded to be put on the album.
Lee and old fan
Meanwhile, Spike Lee was putting together his movie about the Million Man March, which brought African-Americans from around the nation to Washington, D.C., last October for a show of solidarity unmarred by violence, reminiscent in spirit to the freedom marches of the ’60s.
“It definitely reminded me of that period of black social protest,” Lee says, “which is why I had three Curtis Mayfield songs from that period–`People Get Ready,’ `We’re a Winner’ and `Keep on Pushing’–in the movie, because these were all thinly veiled ways of saying what James Brown said a few years later, `Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud.’
“Then I found out about the track `New World Order,’ and when I heard it, I realized it had to be on there, because it captured the essence of the movie.”
Let us teach the children that freedom’s never been free
It’s OK to cry, go ahead and cry
Cause Jesus wept but hope and faith he kept
It’s a new day
–“New World Order”
Lee was only in grade school when he first heard Mayfield’s music, but he says it has never gone out of fashion. “The work of the true giants never does.”
Mayfield is flattered that his music has resonated through the decades. From his ’60s civil-rights anthems to his cautionary street tales of the ’70s such as “Superfly” and “Pusherman” to more recent social commentaries such as the 1990 “Homeless,” Mayfield has been the soundtrack for the black struggle in the second half of the 20th Century.
No wonder that when techno-funk guru Roger Troutman showed up in Mayfield’s home with his compact 56-track computer console, he suggested they re-record “We People Who Are Darker Than Blue,” Mayfield’s 1970 classic urging those who had waged the war against racism to remain diligent.
“I thought it was a damn good idea when Roger brought it up,” Mayfield says. “The statement still needs to be said. I said it 20 years ago, and I’m afraid that 20 years from now, we’ll still be needing it.”
Mayfield has no illusions, however, about how big an impact he can make in the ’90s. His is a voice that sounds out of step with what passes for black pop-music commerce, between hard-core rap’s nihilistic rage and the fantasies of upward mobility and enduring sexual ecstasy promised by a long line of silky R&B crooners.
“I don’t speak for black people but as a black man myself I can see the true anxiety and need of many young black men who are looking for a positive way but don’t know how to find it. They are searching because they have a need.
“To the rest of the country, the problems in our community may not seem very big but it’s very real to us and we need help. There is a sincere desperation for help.”
If nothing else, Mayfield’s music has always given solace to those who felt the struggle was hopeless.
“I’m just a 54-year-old quadriplegic, and we don’t have too many of those making records, much less selling records,” Mayfield says without a trace of self-pity. “I would hope that people would say when they hear the album, `That’s Curtis. It still works for him in the ’90s just as it did in the ’60s. He’s always been able to adapt and change with the times. His main course is food for thought, a little bit of love, and maybe it’ll make a difference.’ “
`WORLD ORDER’ SPINS A TIGHT R&B GROOVE
Curtis Mayfield New World Order
(Warner) (star) (star) (star) 1/2
From the opening bars of the kickoff title track, Curtis Mayfield’s signature sound and sensibility reassert themselves: simmering grooves, conversational vocals and worldly wise perspective. Remarkably, Mayfield’s voice sounds as feathery and assured as it always has, if an octave or two lower from the falsetto he patented during the “Superfly” era. Despite a couple of drippy ballads and an ill-advised foray into rap, the album is stuffed with prime Mayfield. The singer’s insinuating melodies, particularly “Just a Bit of Love,” the scarifying “Here But I’m Gone” and the reggae-flavored underclass anthem-to-be “The Got Dang Song,” are in league with his best, and the passion that Mavis Staples brings to “Ms. Martha” and Aretha Franklin to “Back to Living Again” make these classic slices of R&B redemption.
