Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power

by Aaron Cohen

A Chicago Tribune Book of 2019, Notable Chicago Reads

A Booklist Top 10 Arts Book of 2019

A No Depression Top Music Book of 2019

Curtis Mayfield. The Chi-Lites. Chaka Khan. Chicago’s place in the history of soul music is rock solid. But for Chicagoans, soul music in its heyday from the 1960s to the 1980s was more than just a series of it was a marker and a source of black empowerment. In Move On Up , Aaron Cohen tells the remarkable story of the explosion of soul music in Chicago. Together, soul music and black-owned businesses thrived. Record producers and song-writers broadcast optimism for black America’s future through their sophisticated, jazz-inspired productions for the Dells and many others. Curtis Mayfield boldly sang of uplift with unmistakable grooves like “We’re a Winner” and “I Plan to Stay a Believer.” Musicians like Phil Cohran and the Pharaohs used their music to voice Afrocentric philosophies that challenged racism and segregation, while Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire and Chaka Khan created music that inspired black consciousness. Soul music also accompanied the rise of African American advertisers and the campaign of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, in 1983. This empowerment was set in stark relief by the social unrest roiling in Chicago and across the as Chicago’s homegrown record labels produced rising stars singing songs of progress and freedom, Chicago’s black middle class faced limited economic opportunities and deep-seated segregation, all against a backdrop of nationwide deindustrialization.

Drawing on more than one hundred interviews and a music critic’s passion for the unmistakable Chicago soul sound, Cohen shows us how soul music became the voice of inspiration and change for a city in turmoil.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2019

Reviews

[BMR, LCSW · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great examination on Chicago's role in the development of R&B and Soul music, looking at key players including artists, arrangers, producers, promoters, radio personalities, etc. Short book but densely packed, chock full of info.

Recommended for music geeks, heavy emphasis on geeks. Lost a star, because I would have liked 1. more photos, and 2. an included playlist, highlighting key artists/songs.

[DJ Yossarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good overview, with lots of historical and political context. I'm very likely to refer back to this now and again. It's fairly dense for a reasonably short book. I'm also grateful that reading it helped me discover artists like Terry Callier, Baby Huey and the Baby Sitters, The Pharaohs, and The South Side Movement, among others. And of course there's plenty of Curtis, Chi-Lites, Chaka Khan, and Donny Hathaway, but I wasn't expecting the AACM-associated acts to get so much ink -- that was a very pleasant surprise.

I put together a playlist of the songs referenced in the book -- there are some tracks that don't appear in Spotify, so they're missing, and I made a few random choices just because I'm pretty random in general. But I think it'll be useful as a soundtrack to follow along with as you're making your way through the book:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Ts...

If the link doesn't work, just search Spotify for "Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power"

[Joe Holtzman]

jam packed with facts I will never remember gut did give a good overview of the time period and provided a reminder of bans I forgot about - but I do not remember Poor Richard's having peanuts on the floor

[Alison Hinderliter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely informative and well-written. I had Spotify at the ready to listen to the artists and songs as they were documented, and that was so satisfying to do while poring through the chapters.

[Bradley Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noticing that the story of Chicago soul music was largely untold, Cohen set to correct that with his masterfully rich and academic book about the history of the city’s soul movement as a marker and source of black empowerment. From the genre’s flourishment during the 1960s through the changing landscape of the music industry during the 1970s and 1980s, Cohen’s book proves that not only did Chicago have a vibrant soul music scene but the music also influenced the thriving of black-owned businesses and encouraged political engagement. Stoked by social and economic unrest, soul music in Chicago and the homegrown attitude of its purveyors and champions allowed for the genre to become a point of pride and empowerment, with stylistic differences from the more known soul music communities of Detroit and Memphis. Detailing a long roster of the city’s rising and unknown stars through research and more than 100 interviews, Cohen weaves together a wonderful narrative about Chicago’s unique approach to soul and the music industry as it rallied against social forces such as a racism, economic inequality, and deindustrialization.