Posted on 29 April 2020 29 April 2020Group: Album of the day

Leroy Hutson – Hutson | Album of the day 29th April 2020

With a series of innovative, stylish and critically-acclaimed albums that he recorded throughout the seventies, multi-talented singer, keyboardist, producer/songwriter Leroy Hutson has been responsible for creating his own musical style, a style and sound that have made classics of his works. He is also well known for his contribution as co-writer of Donny Hathaway’s masterpiece, “The Ghetto”, and his participation as lead singer for the legendary “Impressions” when he replaced Curtis Mayfield. Leroy”s music continues to live today having been sampled by such renowned acts as Erykah Badu, Rapper Too-Short and Bones, Thugs-N-Harmony. Of all his albums ‘Hutson’ subsequently known as ‘Hutson 1’ is widely considered as his greatest. The full production with string and horn sections make a perfect complement to the songs and his seductive voice. Every track on the album is worthy of note, but especially ‘Lucky Fellow’ and ‘All Because of You’ which rank amongst the best songs that he has written or recorded. Hutson 1 was his third solo album, he went on to record a further four albums for Curtom in the 70’s, before recording one for Elektra and fading into obscurity. Interest in Leroy’s work was rekindled in the ‘Rare Groove’ era in the late 80’s/early 90’s, when his albums began to get the full appreciation that they deserved. “I was truly honoured when I found out, ” he comments. “I greatly appreciated and liked the idea that there was longevity to my music. People in Britain were getting excited about records that were ten to twelve years old, so of course, it was very flattering.” Leroy was also known for his production work most notably the two superb Natural Four albums, Voices of East Harlem and Arnold Blair’s two step classic ‘Trying to get next to you’. And it is perhaps the production, arrangement and orchestrations of the songs on this album that make it still stand out as such a special record nearly thirty years after it was recorded.