Various Artists - Keep The Fire Burning - The Willie Hutch Songbook Various Artists

Ask any soul fan of the past half a century or so and they will pretty much all proclaim the late Willie Hutch to be one of their heroes - From the 60s to the 80s, Hutch sang and wrote some of the most praised recordings of the time - His albums and singles as a singer for labels like Motown, Modern, Soul City and RCA have been widely anthologised in recent years - Now it's time for Kent to turn the spotlight on Hutch as a tunesmith, with a collection of almost two dozen hits and classics that he penned for others (and occasionally recorded himself along the way, of course)
Hutch's years with Motown saw him working with some of the label's top artists, from Marvin Gaye to the Four Tops and in particular the Jackson 5, for whom he co-wrote the multi-million selling, chart topping 'I'll Be There' among other songs (heard here in a lovely version by the UK's own Gabrielle). Prior to that he had been instrumental in getting the career of the 5th Dimension off the ground, writing their first two singles.
Post Motown, he came up with killers for the likes for his soulful peers Ben E King, Gwen McCrae and more.Jerry Butler, Frankie Valli and Al Wilson are just three further 60s/70s superstars whose catalogues have been enhanced by Hutch's songs. All the aforementioned can be heard here - as can Hutch himself, of course - in a sublime collection that is both a long-overdue addition to Ace and Kent's Songwriter Series and
a suitable tribute to a tunesmith who belongs in the upper pantheon of soul's greatest all-rounders.