Lullablues
Release date: 2002
mo' street music

Beau-ti-ful

Guns Away
Release date: 1994
mo' street music

This is a kind of music and lyric poetry that dares touch the places in us that hurt most, yet never ever leaves us there alone with our hurting. His playfulness and humor becomes ours, his song our song, his love our love. --Rosa Jordan

"SIDEWINDER"

Sidewinder was written for and performed in the theatrical production of It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues. It’s a playful song with lots of sexual innuendos. “I kept getting emails from people who’d seen the show wanting to know how to get a copy of the song,” says Chic, “but Sidewinder hadn’t been recorded yet.” It is now and the innuendos are well in tact.

"ODE TO MAFEEN"
single release, SARAVAH RECORDS - 1973, France

Ode to Mafeen was the very first song Chic wrote. It is the story of the rape of his great-grandmother, Hattie Smith, and the birth of her frist child whom everyone called Mafeen. It shows the ultimate forgiveness Hattie sought in order to find peace in her life. Ode to Mafeen is one of the featured songs in the stage play "Sweet Potatoes In The Oven", written by Chic about the life of his great-grandmother. This recording features Nana Vasconcelos on percussion.

"RAG MAN"
single release, SARAVAH RECORDS - 1973, France

Rag Man is one perspective on the African American experience during the late forties and early fifties in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Cobbled stone streets, the ice man and the rag man all played integral parts in defining Chic's life as a child and adolescent. This recording features Steve Lacy on alto saxophone.

"GROWING UP"
album release, SARAVAH RECORDS/(RCA) - 1973, France

Chic went to France on a whim in 1973 and met Pierre Barouh of "A Man And A Woman" fame. Pierre asked Chic if he had written any songs and Chic assured him he had. He hadn't. (Chic went home and wrote ten songs in seven days). But, that was all Pierre needed to hear and signed Chic on to record his first record album, "Growing Up" - a poignant look at young people growing up in America at that time. This recording features Nana Vasconcelos on percussion, Michel Carras on piano, Christophe Rambault on guitar, Patrice Caratini on bass and Alain Ledouarin on guitar.

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"MAKE IT THRU THE NIGHT"
album release, RIGHT SOUL PRODUCTIONS -1987, USA

Chic was sitting in his studio when a photo-journalist friend entered with 110, 8x10 glossy, black and white photos of battered women. She'd been riding in police cars documenting cases of domestic abuse for more than a year and was ready to make the film. She asked Chic to compose music for the film and the song Make It Thru The Night became the featured song. This recording features Steve Riffkin on keyboards, Jim Reitzel on guitar, Nathan Alford, Jr. on percussion, Jim Baldwin on slide guitar, Tony Chitmon on bass, Leslie King and Jenni Little on back up vocals.

"EVERYBODY BE YOSELF"  
album release, BACKYARD AUDIO - 1994, USA
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This album was a Gold Medal Winner for the 1994 National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) and marks Chic's debut into the family recording market. It contains some of Chic’s finest recordings. These are heartfelt tunes that celebrate life, love and happiness. With bluesy upbeat humor and irresistible worldly wit. The idea for the album came out of Chic's lifetime commitment to help make our world a more peaceful place. In 1987 Chic took a trip to the U.S.S.R. as the Artistic Director of "Peace Child", a children's performing arts troupe and cultural exchange program. Upon returning to the U.S.A. he composed Everybody Be Yo’self which was picked up by the hit TV series Northern Exposure and put on their album of most favorite songs. The Northern Exposure album includes songs by Nat King Cole, Etta James, and Booker T. & the MG's. Chic's album, EBY, features Keb'Mo' on guitar and dobro, Eric Ajaye on bass, Lee Spath on drums, George Friedenthal on keyboards, Leslie King, Cheryl Barnes and Deborah Sharpe on back up vocals.

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"GUNS AWAY"  
CD release, MO' STREET MUSIC - 1994, USA
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"We are the solution to the problems you see", sets the positive tone of Chic's album, "Guns Away", and serves as a prelude to several songs designed to encourage social activism and reduce urban violence. Chic draws on pop, R&B, blues and worldbeat textures in Guns Away and wraps inspirational lyrics in a variety of colorful arrangements. Not all tunes, however, address social issues or are meant to guide young audiences. In some instances Chic sounds smitten and carefree. Lustful at times and full of play. Guns Away carries a very special place in Chic's heart. It was recorded during the healing process in his bout with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. This recording features Keb'Mo' on guitar, Joyce Imbesi on keyboards, Tom Sheppard on bass, Tom West on piano, Jay Bellrose on drums, "Mississippi" Charles Bevel and Dwight "Big D" Streetman on back up vocals.

"BEAU-TI-FUL"  
CD release, MO' STREET MUSIC - 1996, USA
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The roots to Chic's music are locked in the blues. The fruit takes on a variety of colors, flavors and forms. Never falling very far from the tree. That tree will always have a beauty of its own and we come to understand its soul with Chic's latest recording, Beau-ti-ful. A number of themes are explored on this album of original tunes but none more dramatically than the need for ethnic diversity, cultural awareness and human understanding. Once again Chic asks us through the beauty of his music to take a hard look at social issues, then releases us with a casual playfulness as a way to maintain harmony and balance. This recording features Keb' Mo' on guitar, Eric Ajaye on bass, Lee Spath on drums, Matt Harris on piano, Tre Balfour on percussion, Leslie King, Deborah Sharpe and Rene Crutcher on back up vocals.

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“With a voice like an angel’s – think Aaron Neville, only more so – Chic Street Man could sing stock-market reports and still enthrall. Fortunately he’s chosen to apply his heavenly pipes to a mostly original collection of bluesy lullabies.” – Moira McCormick, Billboard & Family Fun Magazines

Lullablues has something of a twist. It’s for parents – specifically, frazzled parents of infants, those veterans of the 2 a.m. colic wars… Chic Street Man, who’s been a psychologist, a touring musician, and the founder of a performing arts center, tackles the theme with warmth, affection and humor…, Lullablues is a breath of fresh air.” - Genevieve Williams, Blues Revue Magazine

Produced by Giovanna Imbesi. Featured on Lullablues are Randy Tico on bass, George Friedenthal on piano & keyboards, Tom Ball on harmonica, Donzell Davis on drums, Joel Peskin on Sax & clarinet, Giovanna Imbesi also on piano; and Leslie King, Eloise Laws-Ivie and Debra Laws on back up vocals. A very special guest appearance is made by Chic's mother, the fabulous Jannie Mae.

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