Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler & The Impressions: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles

FEW THINGS in this amorphous and inchoate universe are so perfect as ‘I’m So Proud’ or ‘Woman’s Got Soul’ – or very nearly any of the songs Curtis Mayfield wrote with The Impressions between 1963 and 1970. As rival peaks, not even the greatest moments of Smokey Robinson – ’It’s Growing’, ‘Ooh Baby Baby’ – touch Mayfield’s flawless delicacy. ‘Keep On Pushin’, ‘Can’t Work No Longer’ ... secular devotionals that sculpt vibrations and sew pearls in air.