A talented and prolific songwriter, guitarist, producer, and singer, Curtis Mayfield was one of the most significant pioneers of Soul and R&B music during the 1960s and 1970s. He was perhaps the very first black musician to overtly address the indignities of being an African-American during America's system of racial apartheid, and many of his songs became closely associated with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. As a producer, arranger, and writer, Mayfield was at the center of the so-called "Chicago Sound," a loose-knit amalgamation of Chicago area solo artists and groups that successfully rivaled Motown's hit-making machine during the first half of the 1960s. As the leader of the Impressions, Mayfield provided another example of how black music can cross over to the Pop mainstream without compromising itself, and as a solo artist he released a series of classic Funk albums...