New Book Explores Heyday of Chicago's Soul Music Scene

Chicago radio legend Richard Steele sits down with author Aaron Cohen to talk about his new book, MOVE ON UP: CHICAGO SOUL MUSIC AND BLACK CULTURAL POWER.

LISTEN

Richard Steele talks to author Aaron Cohen about his new book, MOVE ON UP: CHICAGO SOUL MUSIC AND BLACK CULTURAL POWER.

“This was a story I felt had been told about other cities, when I was a teenager I would read about the way Peter Guralnick would write about soul music from the south. More recently, there have been books about soul music in Detroit and how Motown was part and parcel of the political changes that were going on in Detroit. So, I really felt that story needed to be told from a Chicago perspective.” - Aaron Cohen talking about the impetus to write MOVE ON UP.

Author Aaron Cohen and Richard Steele

While jazz and blues often dominate conversations about Chicago’s music heritage, a new book is shining a light on the city’s rich history of soul music.  It’s called, MOVE ON UP: CHICAGO SOUL MUSIC AND BLACK CULTURAL POWER. The book comes from author Aaron Cohen, who spent seven years working on the project. Spanning the late 50‘s through the early 80’s, Cohen explores Chicago’s soul music scene and the social changes that surrounded it.

Chicago native and Grammy-nominated vocalist Minnie Riperton

MOVE ON UP: CHICAGO SOUL MUSIC AND BLACK CULTURAL POWER is available in places where books are sold. You can find more information about the book at press.uchicago.edu and you can listen to a Spotify playlist of the music featured in the book here