Long overdue sampler of Charles Stepney's dazzling productions issued by Ace/BGP

The boffo 20-track Charles Stepney comp Eternal Journey – put together by Dean Rudland – has been in the works since 2017. 

Here's the scoop...

"Eternal Journey – The Arrangements And Productions Of Charles Stepney" a compilation we started work on back in 2017 will finally be released tomorrow (Friday, March 5). One not to miss, particularly for fans of Terry Callier, Rotary Connection, The Dells, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ramsey Lewis, Phil Upchurch, Marlena Shaw and Buddy Guy!

Charles Stepney gained worldwide success as the producer for Earth Wind & Fire and Deniece Williams but the producer and arranger’s earlier work at Chess is now regarded as some of the most original ever laid to tape, and in the past 20 years has become a primary influence on scores of producers and arrangers, with his records being sought after by DJs and collectors. Despite a couple of attempts, his most important work has never been compiled on one volume until now. This compilation gathers up his most famous productions for the likes of Rotary Connection - and their singer Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Terry Callier, Marlena Shaw and the Dells.

An influence on everyone from Masters At Work to Radiohead, Charles Stepney’s production for the Chess labels captured the spirit of the era by mixing soul, jazz, electronics, composed music and a touch of psychedelia, all arranged brilliantly and produced to an incredibly high standard. Shockingly there has never been a compilation dedicated to this area of his work, something that we are rectifying with “Eternal Journey.”

Stepney was a jobbing arranger when Marshall Chess recruited him to co-produce his new project Rotary Connection, which allowed him to realise his symphonic productions. With the success of their debut album, Stepney was recruited to work on many of the labels most important artists including Ramsey Lewis, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and The Dells. He also took on his own projects working with Phil Upchurch, Terry Callier and others.

Beautifully remastered and housed in a sleeve based on a 1960s Rotary Connection Billboard Magazine advert, this is 16 tracks of Chicago brilliance. Compilation producer Dean Rudland has told the story of Stepney's emergence through his most dazzling work and also their building blocks in the day to day arrangements from R&B and soul stars such as Little Milton and Buddy Guy. His in depth sleeve note includes interview with many of those who worked with Stepney including the author's conversations with both Terry Callier and Marshall Chess. 

Get a copy of "Eternal Journey" directly from Ace/BGP UK right here. Check out the tracklisting followed by a few audio clips below. 

Eternal Journey – The Arrangements and Productions of Charles Stepney

1. DEAR PRUDENCE - RAMSEY LEWIS

2. LES FLEUR - MINNIE RIPERTON

3. IT'S ALL UP TO YOU - THE DELLS

4. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX - BILLY STEWART

5. STAND UP AND BE COUNTED - MEDITATION SINGERS

6. LOVE HAS FALLEN ON ME - THE NEW ROTARY CONNECTION

7. WHAT COLOR IS LOVE - TERRY CALLIER

8. BROTHER WHERE ARE YOU - MARLENA SHAW

9. MORE AND MORE - LITTLE MILTON

10. ETERNAL JOURNEY - RAMSEY LEWIS

11. CALIFORNIA SOUL - MARLENA SHAW

12. CAN'T CATCH THE TRANE - TERRY CALLIER

13. THE LOVE WE HAD (STAYS ON MY MIND) - THE DELLS

14. TEACH ME HOW TO FLY - ROTARY CONNECTION

15. MORE AND MORE - PHIL UPCHURCH

16. I'M HIGH AGAIN - BO DIDDLEY

17. LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER - MUDDY WATERS

18. SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING (1969 version) - HOWLIN' WOLF

19. GIRL YOU LIT MY FIRE - JUNIOR WELLS

20. I'M GONNA KEEP IT TO MYSELF - BUDDY GUY

Chicago gospel & session singer Elsa Harris tells her amazing story

Along with her work with the Jessy Dixon Singers, Elsa Harris also sang backing vocals on Chess/Cadet sessions for Charles Stepney!   

Here's the scoop from Steven Krakow...

The new Secret History of Chicago Music has gone live! (This installment is not in the monthly/new format print issue.) I was blessed to speak with Gospel diva Elsa Harris (thanks to gentleman/scholar Bob Marovich) about her early days doing session work for Chess/Cadet--thus completing my mission to cover the backing vocalists on Minnie Riperton's stone-cold classic Come Into My Garden LP (listen to the magnificent "Les Fleurs" from that album below).

Harris was MUCH more than a session singer though, she also played phenomenal keys, and was part of the foundation of the famed Jessy Dixon Singers (who you've all heard featured on 70s tracks by Paul Simon).

Harris shared unheard tales of sessions with Phil Upchurch (and his python!) and Charles Stepney, and performing at hairy prison events (and blood puddles).

Get the whole divine scoop in the Chicago Reader right here. 

Happy Birthday Charles Stepney!

Remembering Chicago producer/arranger Charles Stepney with the 4-part "Out Of The Shadows" documentary series. 

Eddie Harris vs. John Williams

Eddie Harris – with help from Charles Stepney – put his own 6/8-spin on John Williams' TV theme for "Checkmate" from 1960.

Happy Birthday Charles Stepney!

Remembering Chicago producer/arranger Charles Stepney with Brian Ashby's four-part Out Of The Shadows documentary. 

B-Side Wins Again: Jo Ann Garrett

Check out Jo Ann Garrett's "Just Say When" – produced by Andre Williams, arranged by Charles Stepney & penned by Greg Perry!

LINKS

Chicago Reader Local soul sensation Jo Ann Garrett disappeared from the music biz in her 20s

One For The Weekend: Charles Stepney

Check out the home demo of "Daddy's Diddies" made by visionary Chicago writer/producer/arranger Charles Stepney. 

Here's the scoop...

“Daddy’s Diddies” is another homemade gem from the treasure trove of creative compositional seedlings left behind by late legend Charles Stepney. Working alone, Stepney composed and recorded the song on 4-track tape in the storied red carpet basement of his home on the Southside of Chicago, sometime in the early 1970s.

On "Daddy's Diddies," Stepney overdubs Rhodes piano, drum machine, and a wordless chorus of his own vocals, “prefiguring Bobby McFerrin’s successful experiments in vocal overdubbing by some years” according to Chicago culture historian Ayana Contreras. 

It’s a joyful song that Stepney's daughter Eibur says she listens to as a way to “hear her father.” In the early 2010s, Eibur and her sisters Charlene and Chanté included "Daddy's Diddies" on an ultra-limited CD-R that they released on their own DIY label, The Charles Stepney Masters. International Anthem is proud to share the first worldwide release of this beautiful music. 

Check out "Daddy's Diddies" following the interview with Stepney's Chess Records cohort Gene "Daddy G" Barge below. Get a digital copy of "Daddy's Diddies" via Bandcamp right here. Pre-order the forthcoming Charles Stepney collection Step On Step on gold vinyl right here. 

Rare home recording by the late Charles Stepney uncovered!

"Step By Step" was pparently recorded by producer/arranger Charles Stepney in his Chicago basement in the late 60s. Get it here.

Sidney Barnes recalls his Rotary Connection days

Songwriter Sidney Barnes built a concept around the voice of Chess receptionist Minnie Ripperton that became Rotary Connection.

Now how badass were we in 1969. Rotary Connection, a little up-and-coming psychedelic soul band from Chicago on Chess Records, our weapons were the amazing voice of a 19 year old Chicago cutie named Minnie Riperton. With very little stage experience her looks and voice captivated young hippies. And me (Sidney Barnes) fresh off of a venture of writing and producing records in Detroit with George Clinton and The Funk Brothers. I brought along my years of touring one nighters on the famous "Chitterling Circuit" with Little Richard and other Soul stars, and helping young acts like The Dramatics, and Funkadelic "I was seasoned." 

The Rotary musicians (guitar player, organ player, drummer, bass player) called themselves "The Proper Strangers" and had only done local gigs for their neighborhood friends , nothing professional. Chess Records gave us a finished album to promote, with all of us singing on it, and very little money and said 'Sidney. do what you do best.' By 1969, after adding and changing various band members, what started officially in 1966 as a wild innovative recording project turned into the very first successful Soul/Rock band on the entire East Coast. 

We ended up with Minnie being called an up & coming Rock Diva, as she and I both suddenly became considered Chicago's very first black crossover artist of the 60's. Suddenly we were opening shows for Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, B.B. King, Led Zeppelin, Sly, Jefferson Airplane and  all the other rock legends of that era, at The famed Fillmore East and other legendary Rock venues. When my buddies George and Maurice saw what we were doing they were directly inspired to build on their Parliament/Funkadelic & Earth Wind & Fire concepts. So Rotary Connection wasn't only just a weird concept that some how worked, it helped to create something far greater than itself. Man the fun I've had, "WOW"  – Sidney Barnes

Happy Birthday Phil Upchurch!

Toasting guitar great Phil Upchurch with his Morricone-esque cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "The Way I Feel" and "Black Gold"

Remembering Minnie Riperton on her day

Keep your Adele, I'll take Alice Russell

Tru Thoughts labelmates Alice Russell and Will "Quantic" Holland have teamed up for a new album entitled Look Around The Corner which is set for release on April 3. The lead off single is the beautifully uplifting title track which recalls Minnie Ripperton's classic Rotary Connection recordings produced and arranged by the late great Charles Stepney. But knowing Quantic, he'd  likely say that he was actually thinking more along the lines of Ripperton's 1971 solo debut Come To My Garden instead.  

If the rest of the album is anything like the stellar live version of Look Around The Corner recorded for the video (below) – filmed by videograper, photographer and noted vinyl hound Brian "B+" Cross – this new collabo with Combo Bárbaro could be exactly what Russell (and Quantic) needs to break beyond the deep funk cult and start ringing up some Adele-level sales. Here's hoping.

Get the limited-run 10" vinyl single on Fat Beats here or just grab a digital download of the track here.

Look Around The Corner (live) by Alice Russell w/Quantic's Combo Bárbaro