Leonard Caston Jr. was born in Chicago in 1943. His father, Leonard Senior, was a Blues musician from Mississippi who played piano and guitar. Leonard Jr. started his music career in 1964 by joining the Radiants, the group that had been formed in 1960 by members of the Greater Harvest Church and signed for Chess in 1962.
Caston Jr. was also a member of the same church, playing the organ for the services. After contributing to two hit singles with the group, Caston Jr. left the Radiants and went on to become a session musician, songwriter and producer for Chess Records. In the mid-1960s he co-wrote new lyrics to “I Had A Talk With God Last Night” with Billy Davis. Mitty Collier recorded the secular lyrics as “I Had A Talk With My Man”, which became a hit single on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart at number forty-one and also reached number three on the Cash Box R&B and Soul Singles Chart. Caston Jr. also co-produced another R&B and Soul classic recorded Mitty Collier entitled “Like Only Yesterday” (1966), under the creative direction of the legendary Billy Davis.
Caston Jr. has over four hundred credits to his name, as either songwriter, arranger or producer, including Jackie Ross’ “Full Bloom”, a studio album released on Chess Records in 1964. He played piano on Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me” and also worked with Jan Bradley and Laura Lee.
For the Vashonettes, a female vocal and dance group at Chess, Caston Jr. produced “A Mighty Good Lover”, issued on Checker Records in 1968, with Charles Stepney responsible for arrangements. This is a true classic from some less-well-known ladies from the Windy City, who provided vocal support for many artists, including Donny Hathaway on his studio album “Everything is Everything”.
Caston Jr. also scored a big hit for the Radiants in 1968 with his song “Hold On”, which became a Top Forty hit on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles Chart listing.
As he developed his music production and song-writing skills, Caston Jr. also became an important member of the rhythm section at Chess, contributing especially to the Dells’ recording sessions. In 1968, he produced a funky composition for the Dells called “Show Me”, which has a Gospel groove that reflects his musical training in the church during his early years. The track was the B side to “There Is”. The intro to “Show Me” starts with piano (possibly played by Caston Jr.) in unison with the drums, played by Morris Jennings. The rhythm guitar leads into the vocal call and response by members of the group, led by Marvin Junior. It is a very original up-tempo piece.
The quality of Caston’s work helped him move to Motown later that year.
Sonny Thompson, a pianist and organist, wrote “Anything To Say You’re Mine”, the opening track of Etta James’ “at last!” album. He also played organ on “Rescue Me”. Charles Stepney, as well as being an extraordinary arranger/producer, was an multi-instrumental studio musician on vibraphone, keyboard and piano, who played on many sessions. Fontella Bass’ hit “Rescue Me” features Stepney on vibraphone. Ramsey Lewis also made many contributions to recording sessions, including the album “Come To My Garden”, which Charles Stepney arranged and produced for Minnie Riperton. All of the session musicians detailed above played at Chess Records.
OKeh Records also had a small group of regular session men, including Floyd Morris, Ken Boyd and John Young on piano. Most of the OKeh recording sessions were conducted at the CBS Recording Studios in Chicago. The typical approach adopted by OKeh producer Carl Davis required a soft touch on the drums, with a clear, clean sound. This was often delivered by Al Duncan, playing with Jazz-pianist John Young.
At Brunswick, the main keyboard players were Floyd Morris and Tennyson Stephens. Tennyson Stephens was a talented pianist, equally happy playing Soul or Jazz. He recorded a Jazz album with Phil Upchurch in 1975 entitled “Upchurch/Tennyson”. Floyd Morris was a member of the Johnny Pate Quintet in the 1950s. He played on recordings by Little Milton, Andre Williams, Curtis Mayfield, The Staple Singers, Barbara Lewis, Sam Cooke, The Chi-Lites and Gene Chandler and Jerry Butler. He worked for all the main Chicago R&B labels. In 1965, he released an instrumental album on Select Records.
At Mercury Records, Floyd Morris and Tom Washington were the two main piano players in the studio group.
Many of the Chicago session men were multi-instrumentalists and many played at a wide range of studios. Donny Hathaway recorded at Curtom but also played keyboards at Chess and Mercury.
