This page is a dedication to the legendary Leroy Hutson and his timeless music. It was created by a fan that until recently had no affiliation with the artist.
By its design, MySpace has brought both artist and fan together as friends, in a state of mutual admiration. What began as a Tribute, and has become The Official Lee Hutson MySpace Page, is a result of this friendship.
We thank you for visiting and showing your love and appreciation for Lee Hutson and the beautiful music that he has created for all of us to enjoy.
A Tribute to Leroy Hutson
Written by DJ Pari, December 10, 2008
Yes, we did it! Leroy Hutson made a rare appearance on radio - on our show last night. You can download the entire show HERE.
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Once again, I have to thank the Acid Jazz movement for introducing me to the music of a man whom I consider one of the most talented, interesting, inspiring yet underrated artists in the history of Soul music. I think it was around 1992, and I was a big fan of Galliano, a group signed to Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label. My adventures in oldschool Soul and Funk had just begun and I was still primarily listening to the hip sounds that were coming from London in those days.
Galliano's debut album In Pursuit of the 13th Note left a big impression on me, and I was diggin' my way through dusty crates filled with used Funk records from back in the 1970s, looking for the tracks that Galliano had sampled for their first album. One of my first discoveries was Hal Singer's Malcolm X, a groove used for the hypnotic lyrical hurricane Stormclouds gather. I also found that Galliano took the beat and repetitive guitar lick from Freddy Robinson's Off the Cuff and dubbed it over with the lazy afternoon poetry of Coming on strong.
Then a friend of mine hipped me to a Soul singer on Curtom Records. "Listen to the track All because of you," he said. "Galliano ripped that beat for Welcome to the Story". He gave me a brand new best of compilation with the title There's more where this came from by an artist called Leroy Hutson. I had never heard of the guy before, but I immediately connected with the subtleness of his music. I especially fell for the song Lucky Fellow, a lengthy ballad with an irresistible groove lingering on its bottom. I actually knew the track - London based artist and producer Snowboy and vocalist Noel McKoy had recorded a version of this track for Acid Jazz Records, which I dug (years later I told both Snowboy and Noel how much this track meant to me). But of course it was the original version of this song which got me even more excited. I was hooked immediately.
The following year, I moved to the United States and began my quest of searching for every single album Leroy Hutson had released. The first one that I found was simply titled Hutson, and it included Lucky Fellow. I also learned more about the artist. Leroy Hutson had first recorded with the Nu-Tones back in the 1960s, and had also released a few 45s as part of the duo Sugar & Spice. In 1969, he was a student at Howard University in Washington, DC, and his roommate was another aspiring musicians with the name Donny Hathaway. Both guys quickly became friends, roommates and then collaborators. Hutson wrote Hathaway's biggest hit The Ghetto, which he later recorded himself.
Around the same time, Hutson met Curtis Mayfield, who hired him as vocalist for his group The Mayfields. But in 1971, when Curtis pursued his solo career, Hutson replaced him as lead singer for the legendary Impressions. After recording just one album with the group (Times have changed), Hutson scored a contract as solo artist and producer for Curtom Records. In the following years, he recorded seven solo albums for Curtom and produced and wrote for other acts like The Natural Four, Linda Clifford, The Voices of East Harlem and Arnold Blair. But unfortunately, after his last solo album Paradise, which was released in 1982, he seemed to have disappeared.
In 2004, when I started by Soulpower organization and dedicated my career to bring long forgotten Soul and Funk acts back on European stages, I immediately began searching for Leroy Hutson. But no matter where I looked, it seemed as I always ended up in a dead end street. Once again it was my friend Toby Walker of www.soulwalking.co.uk, who had already hooked me up with Gwen McCrae and RAMP, who made it happen. He told me that he was in touch with Leroy's brother and would let him know that I wanted to get in touch with the man.
Sometime in November 2004, I got an email from Leroy Hutson. "I heard you are looking for me," he wrote. I couldn't believe that I had finally found him, or more accurately, he had found me. We began corresponding on a regular basis, exchanged ideas, thoughts, experiences. He told me a lot about how he created his music and the challenges he faced over the years. And finally he agreed to come to Europe for some shows, so I booked some gigs at Jazz Cafe in London. Unfortunately, plans changed when Leroy decided to first finish his new album before returning to the stage. We stayed in touch, and Leroy emailed me new tracks once in a while, and I felt very humbled that he'd ask me for my opinion. I guess he knew that I was a die-hard fan, but what he may not have known is that he has so many die-hard fans out there today. If you feel his music, then you feel it all the way. For me, his music soothes me like almost no other. It just makes me happy, no matter where and when I listen to it. I have no idea what his secret is, and I don't really care as long as its working. If I had to throw out all my albums and only get to keep ten, most likely half of them would be Leroy Hutson albums, either his solo records or of the artists he produced, like the Voices of East Harlem (don't get me started!!)
When I teamed up with my friend Andrew Felty last month to co-host Richmond's weekly radio show Midnight Soulstice on W-RIR 97.3 fm, I knew who I wanted as our first guest on the show. Leroy was happy to do it, and since he had recently released his new album Soothe you - Groove you, the timing was perfect.
This Friday, December 12, Midnight Soulstice will present The Leroy Hutson Special, and Leroy will join us on the show. Whether you are a fan of Leroy Hutson or just a fan of good music, make sure to not miss this broadcast. It's gonna be very special, so I hope you'll turn in:
When: Friday, Dec 12, 11 pm - 1am EST (that's 4 am the the next day in England and 5 am in Central Europe)
Where: Live stream on www.wrir.org or 97.3fm in Richmond, VA
Check out Leroy on MySpace at www.myspace.com/leroyhutsontheman
Whats goin on? Just stoppin in to let you know that if you sign up for our mailing list at www.decadentroots.com you will receive a FREE copy of our 1st single Relapse. We have also made the entire album available to download for only $5.00 in the online store! We also have just posted a new song by the name of Haunting Memories, give it a listen and let us know what you think. It is a huge, epic sounding tune that we wrote at practice on September 12, 2001, so you can probably guess what its about. Weve also got some new pics up of us with the boys from Down up in Cleveland. So stop by the myspace page or the .com and give the songs a listen, check out the merchandise, sign up for the mailing list, and drop us a line, we love hearing from you! Keep in touch.
Thanks,
DR
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