Curtis Mayfield

Soul singer Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed from the neck down and remains in serious condition after being hit by a lighting scaffold blown down by a gust of wind during an outdoor concert Monday night in Brooklyn, N.Y. Mayfield, composer of such classic R&B tunes as "People Get Ready" and "Superfly," was about to begin performing at Windgate Field when a gust of wind dislodged an unstable scaffold of overhead stage lights and sent the tower crashing down on him.

MUSIC Having presented shows with the Robert Glasper Experiment and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the genre-skipping ArtDontSleep offers another night of jazz-oriented sounds guaranteed to keep you moving. Celebrating the music of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and other vintage funk and soul innovators, "East Side Story" includes performances by Bilal, Meyer Hawthorne and violinist-bandleader Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, a musical gadfly who has collaborated with Flying Lotus and here performs in an ensemble that features Fanny Franklin and rising star saxophonist Kamasi Washington.

When a reader called this week to ask which Curtis Mayfield album to buy, the answer seemed easy enough. The suggestion: Try a "greatest-hits" album by the R&B great, who died Sunday at age 57. The problem, the caller explained, was that she had already found four greatest-hits albums at the store--two devoted to Mayfield himself and two to the Impressions, the group the singer-songwriter-guitarist led for most of the '60s.

If asked to name the recording artist whose music came closest to serving as a soundtrack for the civil rights movement in the 1960s, most pop fans would probably think of James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan. But a new DVD makes a strong case that the best answer is Curtis Mayfield.

Curtis Mayfield, a songwriter who sang against social injustice with an almost spiritual eloquence that made him the conscience of R&B music in the '60s and '70s, died Sunday. He was 57. Warner Bros. Records spokeswoman Karen Lee announced the death in Los Angeles. A nurse at North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Ga., confirmed that Mayfield died there Sunday morning. The cause of his death was not immediately available. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

This was supposed to be the week that was for Curtis Mayfield. After more than a decade of near anonymity, the soul singer-composer seemed positioned for the kind of dramatic comeback experienced by such '60s pop-rock figures as Roy Orbison and Tina Turner in recent years. Capitol Records has just released "The Return of Superfly," a sequel to Mayfield's 1972 multi-million selling "Superfly" soundtrack.

Tribute to Mayfield: A concert tribute to soul singer Curtis Mayfield, who is rehabilitating after a freak accident, will be staged at the Palace in Hollywood on Sept. 25. It will feature performances by Mayfield's original group the Impressions (with a possible appearance by Jerry Butler) plus rap artists Ice-T, Tone Loc, Eazy-E, Mellow Man Ace and Kid Frost. Proceeds from the $25-per-ticket event will go to Mayfield's family, to help defray mounting medical costs.

Rhythm and blues singer Curtis Mayfield remained in critical but stable condition early today, three days after being hit by a lighting tower at a concert, a hospital administrator said. Mayfield, 48, suffered head and neck trauma Monday night when the tower landed on top of him as he took the outdoor stage at a Brooklyn high school, authorities said. The tower was toppled by sudden winds of up to 50 m.p.h., police said.

MUSIC Having presented shows with the Robert Glasper Experiment and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the genre-skipping ArtDontSleep offers another night of jazz-oriented sounds guaranteed to keep you moving. Celebrating the music of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and other vintage funk and soul innovators, "East Side Story" includes performances by Bilal, Meyer Hawthorne and violinist-bandleader Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, a musical gadfly who has collaborated with Flying Lotus and here performs in an ensemble that features Fanny Franklin and rising star saxophonist Kamasi Washington.

The revolution may not have been televised, but the soundtrack of the 1960s and 1970s went something like this: "People Get Ready . . . Keep on Pushin' . . . It's Alright . . . Superfly!" That, at least, is how more than 300 musicians and parishioners heard it when they gathered Tuesday at the First AME Church in South Los Angeles to pay homage to pop star Curtis Mayfield, the man whose soulful lyrics and silky voice inspired millions of fans.

This Baton Rouge-based rapper masterfully mixes tales of underclass struggle with stories of spiritual awakening on his second album, due in stores Tuesday. A strong sense of helplessness emanates from Bleed's often deadpan delivery, but his raps also have an uplifting quality that adds a needed balance to the painful, no-nonsense atmosphere he creates on such tracks as "Give and Take" and "To Be a Soldier."

When a reader called this week to ask which Curtis Mayfield album to buy, the answer seemed easy enough. The suggestion: Try a "greatest-hits" album by the R&B great, who died Sunday at age 57. The problem, the caller explained, was that she had already found four greatest-hits albums at the store--two devoted to Mayfield himself and two to the Impressions, the group the singer-songwriter-guitarist led for most of the '60s.

Few pop stars knew more about life's unfairness than Curtis Mayfield, but he was the last one ever to complain. The massively influential singer-songwriter, who died Sunday at age 57, believed his role was to lift his audience's spirits, not dampen them.

Curtis Mayfield, a songwriter who sang against social injustice with an almost spiritual eloquence that made him the conscience of R&B music in the '60s and '70s, died Sunday. He was 57. Warner Bros. Records spokeswoman Karen Lee announced the death in Los Angeles. A nurse at North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Ga., confirmed that Mayfield died there Sunday morning. The cause of his death was not immediately available. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

"Ultimate" . . . "historic" . . . "legendary" are some of the words that RCA Records is applying to "Sunrise," the latest in its endless series of Elvis Presley reissues. "Greedy" is more like it. The music in "Sunrise"--a collection of the landmark recordings Presley made with Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis before he switched to RCA and exploded on the pop scene in 1956 with "Heartbreak Hotel"--is historic and legendary, but the two-disc set is certainly not the ultimate bargain.

*** CURTIS MAYFIELD "New World Order", Warner Bros. The urban landscape has only gotten bleaker since Mayfield sang "Freddie's Dead" 24 years ago. But even after he was paralyzed in a 1990 stage mishap, Mayfield's stern yet loving tone and firm optimism haven't wavered. "Ms. Martha" is a portrait of a stoic, elderly woman, but you wonder if he isn't talking about himself when he sings, "The reason why I haven't passed away / I lived to make sure you'd see a better day."

Long before today's generation of rappers, Curtis Mayfield was the musical voice of the black experience. With his group the Impressions in the early '60s, he tapped into the idealism of the civil rights era in such gospel-inflected anthems as "People Get Ready." His 1972 soundtrack for "Super Fly" is a landmark work that defined much of the R&B that followed.