It was Gilles‟ Talkin‟ Loud label that put out Timepeace, Terry Callier‟s magnificent return to recording in 1998. He was, what, in his early 50s at the time? This was really a Lazarus-like return in so many ways. And, dare I presume, that when news of Terry‟s death filtered through, on social media, that it was Timepeace that people first turned to. Maybe even more precisely it was the Love Theme from Spartacus, the tune Terry turned into his very own „new freedom song‟. Ah those words: “Only love will set us free”. Because many of us who first heard Terry around 1990 will now be getting on for 50, we will have had our own dreams thwarted, and we will now understand about the significance of being offered another chance to do what really matters the most to us even if that is at the expense (ironically) of a regular income.
That trio of LPs Terry Callier made for Cadet in the early „70s: Occasional Rain, What Colour is Love? and I Just Can‟t Help Myself have over the years taken on an almost mystical significance. Their beauty and importance seemed to bloom as more information emerged about Charles Stepney, his achievements as an arranger, composer and producer gradually unfolding: Marlena Shaw‟s California Soul, Woman of the Ghetto, Liberation Conversation; the Rotary Connection records, especially Hey Love, and in particular Black Gold of the Sun and maybe Love Has Fallen On Me for the oddness of the Lloyd-Webber credit but then what Stepney and Rotary Connection were doing was not that far removed from the original studio version of Jesus Christ Superstar; Minnie Riperton‟s Come To My Garden; The Dells singing Dionne Warwicke‟s Greatest Hits; Ramsey Lewis‟ Mother Nature‟s Son and The Piano Player; the two Phil Upchurch LPs Charles oversaw. And then there was Richard Evans‟ role, his work with Soulful Strings, Young Holt Unlimited, his own Dealing With Hard Times but in particular those
Dorothy Ashby LPs Afro-Harping Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby.
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Much of the specific detail I know about Charles Stepney, his techniques and philosophy, comes from an extended feature in the Feb/March 2007 edition of Wax Poetics which gives a fascinating insight into what was behind the way Stepney and co. stretched ideas about pop music with instrumental and electronic complexities. It‟s revealing that much of Stepney‟s own inspiration came from the classical and avant-garde spheres, and names that are cited in the feature include Ligeti, Henry Cowell, Bartok, Bach and Stravinsky. He also had a passion for music originating from Spain and Africa. That is all wonderful, great detaul to know, but only relevant for background on the way Stepney put together such incredible opulent orchestral and cyclonic choral arrangements. It is interesting the way Charles Stepney‟s work has seized imaginations over the past 20 years. When he was active at Chess/Cadet etc. there were plenty of other great composers/arrangers/producers at work: Jimmy Webb, Bones Howe, Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Jimmy Haskell, Gary McFarland, Bobby Scott, Oliver Nelson, Claus Ogerman, Eumir Deodato, Bob Crewe, Charlie Calello, and so on. There were The Beatles, Beach Boys, the Motown people. There was Phil Wright and Gamble & Huff. There was Gene Page, who had put together the arrangement for Al Wilson when he was singing Fred Neil‟s great song about the dolphins swimming in the sea, which Terry Callier would later sing so beautifully with Beth Orton. In the UK there were people who had evolved from the light orchestral world like George Martin, Laurie Johnson and Wally Stott, and there was John Cameron, Tony Hatch, Ian Green, John Barry. There was Michel Legrand and Ennio Morricone and so on. But perhaps most importantly there were record company executives like Marshall Chess, Bob Thiele and Creed Taylor prepared to push things further, and sanction anything. As the 1990s progressed there was a definite shift in attitudes, emphasis and interests. Whereas say the work of David Axelrod was initially of interest to the hip-hop community for its beats and bass lines, gradually more attention would be focused on his arrangements, his use of