Released just two years after the intimate club set
Curtis/Live!,
Curtis in Chicago consists of a different kind of show, a dream concert celebrating
Curtis Mayfield's musical history and Curtom Records for which one is grateful the audio-tape machines were running properly (there was a public-television broadcast of the show, under the same name, that would be a choice video release today).
Mayfield; the current
Impressions; the original
Impressions (including
Jerry Butler), the successful mid-'60s version of the group;
Gene Chandler (reworking "Duke of Earl"); and
Leroy Hutson get to do their best songs, this time in a kind of big-band soul setting backed by the Curtom Rhythm Section augmented by the presence of
Phil Upchurch. [A British import release from Sequel includes
Curtis/Live! and
Curtis in Chicago.] ~ Bruce Eder