Chicago-born composer, producer and arranger Charles Stepney is known to some for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire, Deniece Williams, and Ramsey Lewis, or for his work with Chess Records in the 1960s, where he was an essential creative force behind seminal recordings by Rotary Connection, Minnie Riperton, Marlena Shaw, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Terry Callier, The Dells, The Emotions, and many many more. In the decades since his untimely death in 1976, the presence of his name in liner notes and on vinyl labels has become a seal of quality for record collectors, music historians, and aficionados, while his sound has been used by countless samplers in the hip-hop world including Kanye West, A Tribe Called Quest, The Fugees, MF Doom, and Madlib. But in comparison to the post-mortem renown of his sound, or the music he created and the artists he supported while he was alive, Stepney is a greatly under-appreciated figure… a genius relegated to the shadows.
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1.1Roll Tape
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1.2Gimme Some Sugar
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1.3Gotta Dig It To Dig It
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1.4No Credit For This
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1.5Roadtrip
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1.6On Your Face
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1.7That’s The Way Of The World
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1.8Imagination
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1.9In The Basement
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1.10Business
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2.1Look B
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2.2Around The House
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2.3Funky Sci Fi
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2.4Mini Mugg
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2.5Chicago Independent
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2.6Surround Stereo
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2.7Black Gold
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2.8Notes From Dad
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2.9Rubie & Charles
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2.10Greatness
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2.11Step On Step


