When it comes to the genius and musical prowess of Roberta Flack, who died on Monday in Manhattan, we all have our favorite recordings. Already the lists of Flack’s top ten are being compiled. Here is one I recently encountered: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”; “You’ve Got Friend”; “Be Real Black for Me”; “Killing Me Softly With His Song”; “Feel Like Makin’ Love”; “The Closer I Get to You”; “You Are My Heaven”; “You Stopped Loving Me”; “Tonight I Celebrate My Love”; and “Here, There and Everywhere.”
Okay, assemble your mixtape for your trip down memory lane with a phenomenal vocalist and pianist, and for me put a pause and replay on “The Closer I Get To You.” While Roberta was capable of performing in several formats and genres, her dip into the jazz realm, I feel, is best represented with this tune, composed by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, at that time members of her band with formidable jazz roots.
One evening I happened to pop into Showman’s on 125th Street to hear Preacher Robins on organ and lo and behold Mtume was there with photographer Jules Allen. Suddenly, it was like old home week and we kicked it for several minutes before I forced the conversation into the history of the making of “The Closer I Get to You.” I recall Mtume telling me that the tune was almost removed from the album because the president of the company “thought it was repetitive and boring. But Roberta stepped in and defended it and thanks to her the tune remained in place — and went on to be one of her hits and as a single too.” The last time I saw him was during a symposium in 2018 at MoMa where he shared a panel with my nephew Professor Michael Dinwiddie, Rich Medina, and Sadie Barnette on a discussion of Motown’s series of spoken word records on the Black Forum label. Mtume said: “I was a member of US … and during the recording we were thinking about John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama’ that was inspired by the four little girls killed in Birmingham.” The date he was referring to was Amiri Baraka’s “It’s Nation Time,” in which he composed “Chant” for the recording. Mtume died in 2022.
For the most part, the tune is background music for lovers, and we would be remiss to leave Donny Hathaway out of its history.
Anyway, that’s my spin down memory lane and Roberta that’s about as close as I got to you.
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