Curtis Mayfield - Live At Ronnie Scott's DVD

Filmed in 1988, just two years before a cruel stage accident left him wheelchair-bound and unable to perform, Curtis Mayfield Live at Ronnie Scott's showcases the undiminished talents of one of the late, great soulmen. In the 1980s, Mayfield enjoyed a revival of interest in Britain following the rare groove explosion, when clubbers weary of chart music, hip-hop and techno rediscovered the warmer, more organic sounds of 70s soulsters, though Mayfield is not to blame for the Luddite and austere white soul movement led by the likes of Paul Weller. Here, Mayfield is interviewed... by Weller, to whom he explains his roots in church music. When pushed by the Style Council frontman on his radical political beliefs, Mayfield politely demurs, claiming, perhaps to Weller's dismay, to be apolitical. He describes America as "land of the free" and his backing musicians, strangely, wear stars and stripes tank tops. Mayfield's music, though, bristles with attitude. Unlike subsequent hip-hoppers and garage acts, Mayfield was unequivocal in de-glamorising ghetto lifestyle. And though he wrote scores for films like Superfly, he consciously subverted their "blaxploitation". The message of songs like "Freddie's Dead" and "Pusherman", performed here, is that the desperate life of guns 'n' drugs is a crying shame. Mayfield spoke gently, sang sweetly and his soul arrangements floated like cream, but his music carried a huge stick. This 1988 performance is no retro-fest, but is as stirring and vital as his 70s heyday. On the DVD: Curtis Mayfield Live at Ronnie Scott's has an introduction from Kevin Le Gendre which points up Mayfield's revolutionary qualities, particularly his setting up his own record label. He also provides individual audio commentaries for tracks, offering perspicacious remarks on "To Be Invisible", for instance, Mayfield's encore, based on Ralph Ellison's book The Invisible Man. --David Stubbs [show more]

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