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Features Disc of the day
Percy Mayfield
Poet Of The Blues
(Specialty, 1990)
Rock'n'soul's most poignant songwriter, and unluckiest star.
Heaven please send to all mankind,
Understanding and peace in mind.
But if it's not asking too much
Please send me someone to love.
Show all the world how to get along,
Peace will enter when hate is gone.
But if it's not asking too much,
Please send me someone to love...
Only a dyed-in-the wool cynic could possibly deny Percy Mayfield's immortal words are as timely and touching now as they were 60 years ago, when his classic song Please Send Me Someone To Love reached the top of the US Billboard R&B charts in November, 1950.
More often remembered these days for the hit tunes he penned for Ray Charles - most notably Hit The Road, Jack - Mayfield was a unique singer in his own right, whose stint with Specialty Records in the early '50s produced arguably his most ground-breaking work. The 25 tunes collected on Poet Of The Blues, spanning the years 1950 to '54, reveal an artist who not only enjoyed significant commercial success (seven Top 10 R&B hits), but whose artistic influence, albeit often indirectly, is still keenly felt today.
After leaving his native Louisiana in the early '40s, Mayfield spend several years in LA trying to launch his career before his talents were spotted by Specialty's famed producer, Art Rupe, who signed Mayfield to his label in 1950. As was often the case, Rupe's talent for nurturing hit-makers was swiftly rewarded with the success of Please Send Me Someone To Love before the year was out. The combination of Mayfield's smooth but deeply emotive voice and heartfelt lyrics were further enhanced by Rupe's production skills. Using state-of-the-art studios, 'Pappy' (as Mayfield fondly dubbed his producer) was able to capture every nuance of Mayfield's blues- and gospel-drenched croon, while surrounding him with some of the most talented musicians to be found on the West Coast, including sax players T. Maxwell Davis and Jack McVea and drummer Jesse Sailes.
From the slow-swinging blues of Life Is Suicide and the bayou groove of Louisiana, to the jumping R&B of Baby, You're Rich and the salacious humour of Loose Lips, Mayfield's talents as both a performer and writer would influence many blues and soul singer-songwriters (he also cut many excellent sessions for the Tangerine, Atlantic and RCA labels). But a car wreck in 1952 left him cruelly disfigured (in a harrowing letter to Rupe he described himself as "too ugly to be seen in public") and he was never the star his voice, songs and pre-crash handsomeness had promised.
It's a disservice to Mayfield, who was so much more than a songwriting footnote in the careers of others. It's about time the 'poet of the blues' received his dues.
Ange Tsibogiannis
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 09/02/2011
Further Listening
Percy Mayfield - Memory Pain Vol.2 (Specialty, 1992)
Percy Mayfield - Blues Laureate: The RCA Years (Raven, 2006)
Jesse Belvin - The Blues Balladeer (Specialty, 1990)
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