STEPNEY EVERGREEN
Fascinating to read about the making of “Free” by Deniece Williams in the latest issue of Uncut, one of the greatest truly psychedelic songs of all time. I have a beautifully pressed 12” promo single from 1976 that shows how insanely spacious and trippy the music and production is. It’s baffling in these days of compressed streaming sounds.
A big chunk of this majesty comes from the production arranger ear of Charles Stepney, who alongside Norman Whitfield was one of the most adventurous producers of the era. He rightly gets a mention in the piece but deserves to be so much more than a footnote.
Stepney was the producer /arranger of Rotary Connection, early Earth, Wind & Fire, Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis and late-’60s Howlin’ Wolf as well as. He even wrote a jazz symphony in 1970. His sound is easily as unique and revolutionary as more championed heroes like Brian Wilson and his contribution to the groundbreaking world of black psychedelia still goes unrecognised in comparison to his immense talent. Hopefully the forthcoming album of demos – coming out on Chicago’s International Anthem label – will go some way to rectify this.
