Today in The New York Times, Larry Rohter’s story on the late singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield highlights the soul and R&B icon’s continued influence on musicians and their craft even today:

“The beauty of the vocal style is that the voice is tender and approachable, not aggressive or threatening, but at the same time the lyrics are powerful and politically charged,” said Aloe Blacc, a retro-soul singer who confesses to having studied Mayfield’s songwriting and singing in preparation for his own CDs. “It’s a very effective way to juxtapose content and texture. You’ve got a hooky, catchy pop sound, but by the time you absorb the lyrics and get to the chorus, you realize you have been baited and switched.”

Here But I’m Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute To Curtis Mayfield takes place tonight in Avery Fisher Hall as part of Lincoln Center Festival.

(Photo courtesy of the Curtis Mayfield estate)

The Impressions’ Fred Cash talked to Brad Farberman of The Village Voice recently about the first time that he met the late great pop, soul, funk and R&B music icon Curtis Mayfield:

“When I was living in Chattanooga, and they did their last show [with Butler], that’s when I met Curtis Mayfield. After Jerry had left. I just thought he was a genuine guy. He had so much talent, playing guitar and writing songs, you know? I just really, really admired him. And thought he was a great writer. And a producer as well. And a good friend.”

Here But I’m Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Curtis Mayfield takes place tomorrow night in Avery Fisher Hall as part of this year’s Lincoln Center Festival.

(Read the rest of the Q&A between Farberman and Cash here.)

(Photo courtesy of the Curtis Mayfield estate)

“After the freak accident that paralyzed him in 1990, the great Curtis Mayfield recorded his last album, 1997’s New World Order, with heroic effort: by singing one line at a time while lying on his back,” wrote James Sullivan of Rolling Stone in his preview of Here But I’m Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute To Curtis Mayfield, which is taking place at Avery Fisher Hall this Friday as part of Lincoln Center Festival.

(Photo courtesy of the Curtis Mayfield estate)

Altheida Mayfield, wife of the late soul music legend Curtis Mayfield, recently spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times about her husband in anticipation of Here But I’m Gone: A 70th Birthday Tribute to Curtis Mayfield, which will take place in Avery Fisher Hall next Friday night as part of this year’s Lincoln Center Festival:

“’He was romantic,’ she said in a conversation during a visit to New York. ‘We spent lots of time on the beach. Curtis loved water. He loved nature, really. We would head to the 39th or 63rd Street beach. It was early in the morning and nobody would be there. It was safe in those days. He woke me up early in the morning just to make me notice the dew that was on the grass.’”

(Check out the rest of the article by clicking here.)

(Photo courtesy of Curtis Mayfield Estate)

JUST RELEASED: Sinéad O’Connor and other artists have been added to the Curtis Mayfield tribute concert at Lincoln Center Festival 2012.

The lineup for the Lincoln Center Festival tribute to the late soul music icon Curtis Mayfield has been expanded with the addition of artists Sinéad O’Connor, Bilal, Meshell Ndegeocello, William Bell, Ryan Montbleau and Inyang Bassey.

This one-time-only event takes place on July 20 at 8 p.m. in Avery Fisher Hall. Previously announced performers include The Impressions, Mavis Staples, Aloe Blacc, Kyp Malone and Tune Adebimpe, Dr. Lonnie Smith and a 14-piece house band led by music director Binky Griptite of the Dap-Kings.

(Read the entire press release here.)

(Photo courtesy of Curtis Mayfield Estate)

Want to find out who’s in the lineup for the Curtis Mayfield tribute concert at this year’s Lincoln Center Festival on July 20 in Avery Fisher Hall? Ben Sisario of The New York Times has the scoop here.

JUST ANNOUNCED: Lincoln Center Festival 2012!

Highlights include:

- The return of the Paris Opera Ballet to NYC after a 16-year absence, dancing three programs

- Mikhail Baryshnikov in a new play, In Paris

- The Sydney Theatre Company’s acclaimed Uncle Vanya

- Alan Cumming in the National Theatre of Scotland’s one-person Macbeth

- DruidMurphy, a play cycle staged by Garry Hynes for the Druid Theatre Company

- A tribute concert celebrating the music of Curtis Mayfield

- China’s TAO Dance Theater with new works

- Émilie, an opera by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Malouf, starring Elizabeth Futral

- Feng Yi Teng, a chamber opera by Guo Wenjing, directed by Atom Egoyan

…and MUCH more! (Read the entire press release here.)