Early on in "The Makings of Curtis Mayfield," H.E.R., the 27-year-old R&B pop star who directed the film and appears in it as its interviewer and tour guide, offers a telling observation about her ...

in a musical genre that ultimately became synonymous with the Seventies: disco. Like “Theme from Shaft,” disco’s early tracks were a syncretic blend of soul, funk, pop and jazz. They drew as ...