You're definitely spreading the good news here, Marshall! I love King Curtis - one of my favorite tracks is Memphis Soul Stew: https://youtu.be/4Sm9n-6hy6M. They only think I would add to your excellent commentary is that he and Aretha had a tight collaboration that predated the Fillmore shows, with Curtis playing on nearly all of her Atlantic albums until his untimely death. I get the idea that she leaned on him a bit to sort out arrangements that worked for her and was a bit unmoored by his loss. A tragedy for her and for all of us!
That's true, Jeremy, their relationship predated the Fillmore shows & I could have made that more clear. I agree that she was shaken by his loss, that's clear from his funeral and her subsequent gospel performance with the Kingpins.
Hi, Mark. Thanks for taking the time to read NDIM. Nothing makes me happier than to have readers discover an artist I've written about. A large part of the reason I do this is to write about musicians who might be a little lost in the shuffle, because there are plenty of people out there who would love their music if they got a chance to hear it! Enjoy listening to King Curtis.
I started my day with Live At The Filmore West and King Size Soul (listened to this a couple times!) and loved them both. I’m relatively new to Substack (about six weeks) and have already discovered some awesome music (both new and “new to me”). My favorites get added to my “Substack Discoveries” Spotify playlist and King Curtis is the latest addition.
Nice piece on King Curtis - had no idea that he played on all those big hits by the Coasters.
You're definitely spreading the good news here, Marshall! I love King Curtis - one of my favorite tracks is Memphis Soul Stew: https://youtu.be/4Sm9n-6hy6M. They only think I would add to your excellent commentary is that he and Aretha had a tight collaboration that predated the Fillmore shows, with Curtis playing on nearly all of her Atlantic albums until his untimely death. I get the idea that she leaned on him a bit to sort out arrangements that worked for her and was a bit unmoored by his loss. A tragedy for her and for all of us!
That's true, Jeremy, their relationship predated the Fillmore shows & I could have made that more clear. I agree that she was shaken by his loss, that's clear from his funeral and her subsequent gospel performance with the Kingpins.
Had never heard of King Curtis before, but everything you posted is fantastic! Looking forward to digging into his catalog, thanks for the intro!!
Hi, Mark. Thanks for taking the time to read NDIM. Nothing makes me happier than to have readers discover an artist I've written about. A large part of the reason I do this is to write about musicians who might be a little lost in the shuffle, because there are plenty of people out there who would love their music if they got a chance to hear it! Enjoy listening to King Curtis.
I started my day with Live At The Filmore West and King Size Soul (listened to this a couple times!) and loved them both. I’m relatively new to Substack (about six weeks) and have already discovered some awesome music (both new and “new to me”). My favorites get added to my “Substack Discoveries” Spotify playlist and King Curtis is the latest addition.