“It’s All Right”: Chicago Soul

Berry Gordy, Jr., and his Motown Records, based in Detroit, Michigan, overshadowed the Windy City during the 1960s. But several black music producers—including Roquel (“Billy”) Davis and Carl Davis (who were not related), Johnny Pate (who also was an arranger), and Curtis Mayfield—developed a recognizable Chicago sound that flourished from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. This lightly gospelized rhythm and blues, which came to be known as Chicago soul, replaced the raucous blues of...