When (and if) Patrice Rushen’s two moderate ’80s hits spring to mind, more than likely your memory super-imposes a different voice atop hers. Her triumphant “Haven’t You Heard” broke into the R&B Top 10 in 1980, but couldn’t crack the Top 40. But when Kirk Franklin lifted it wholesale for “Looking for You” in 2005, it charted across the gospel, R&B, and the Hot 100. Similarly, “Forget Me Nots” made the Top 40 and was nominated for a Grammy in 1982, but that beguiling handclap and bounding bassline also laid the foundation for Will Smith’s “Men in Black” 15 years later (George Michael also sampled it). Rushen’s DNA runs through everything: Diddy, J Dilla, Jermaine Dupri, Prince Paul, Q-Tip, and Knxwledge have sampled her, to name just a few among hundreds. “We’re living in Patrice Rushen’s world,” the New York Times recently declared. “We just might not know it yet.”
Rushen started playing music at the age of 3. By the time she was a teenager, she was signed to the iconic jazz label Prestige, recruiting heavyweights like Joe Henderson and Leon “Ndugu” Chancler for her debut album, Prelusion. The pianist grew up within jazz. But it was 1974, and the charts were instead filled with funk, R&B, fusion, and the pulse of disco. What was she supposed to do? Her music naturally started to absorb it all. When Rushen jumped to the Elektra label in 1978 and started cutting sophisticated urban pop that drew on all of the above, she wasn’t alone—jazz stars like Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd, Roy Ayers, and George Benson had already crossed over. Remind Me: The Classic Elektra Recordings 1978-1984 shows us how her production and arranging provided building blocks for decades of future R&B and hip-hop hits.
Rushen faced harsher critical backlash for her crossover than her male colleagues, and was deemed a sellout by the jazz community. Worse still, her label did almost nothing to support her efforts. She grazed the lower rungs of chart success, but never reached the heights she deserved. Her dancefloor songs still sound featherweight and spry. “Forget Me Nots” and “Haven’t You Heard” remain indefatigable, grooves that belong on the Great Wedding Playlist in the Sky alongside Chic, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Sister Sledge. Lesser-known numbers like “Look Up!” and “Number One” are sharp enough to inspire new imitators and samplers. Her crack session band is buoyant, and her arrangements made alongside Charles Mims, Jr., are sturdy and supple enough to be twisted in all kinds of new shapes. (My lone gripe is that I wish the ebullient “Call On Me” had made the cut.)
Depending on how Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin’s stinging guitar is sampled, the slinky slow jam “Givin’ It Up Is Givin’ Up” imparts either sensuousness or eeriness, but Rushen’s voice twines with soul singer D.J. Rogers and sends chills regardless. And Rushen’s gurgling electric piano on “Remind Me” shows that despite forgoing her jazz audience for pop, she could still pull head-bobbing clusters from her keys in a manner that brings Herbie Hancock to mind. Her airy vocals might not always stick, but the groove does.
But the ballads keep drawing down the energy. “Settle for My Love” is breathy and wispy, liable to drift past without much notice. “When I Found You” relies on Rushen’s nuanced-but-insubstantial voice. She’s early in her pop career, still figuring out how to write the best lines for the right vocal register: “Let’s Sing a Song of Love” dances just beyond the reach of her backing singers.
By the time of her last Elektra album, 1984’s Now, Rushen had mastered the language of pop, with songs like “Feels So Real” and “To Each His Own” supplying late highlights. And while her own pop career would wind down soon after, her career as a musical director took off. She began working for the Grammys, NAACP Image Awards, and Emmys. Her status as materfamilias of pop was cemented when Rushen served as musical director for Janet Jackson’s early ’90s world tour. Breaking through the constraints of genre at a time when it was an arduous task for a woman, Rushen’s willingness to draw from across the Black American radio dial with sophistication still resonates today. Offering up pathways for Solange, Teyana Taylor, Erykah Badu, Esperanza Spalding and more to explore, Remind Me still sounds like a guidepost for the future.
Buy: Rough Trade
