One small detail I thought was interesting was that someone mentioned it was the “4th annual…” Harlem cultural festival. So it wasn’t a one off …I wonder what the others were like …
― calstars, Sunday, 11 July 2021 12:03 (two years ago) link
Caught the movie in a local theater yesterday afternoon and was blown away.I am so glad this movie was made.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Sunday, 11 July 2021 12:16 (two years ago) link
Who looks more awesome in this, Sly Stone or Stevie Wonder?
I went in without reading too much about who performed - just knew there were some major Soul names involved - and that was a great way to experience it because it's just boom boom boom legend after legend, and so stylistically diverse as well.
If anyone enjoyed this and hasn't seen Soul Power, the doc about a music festival in Zaire, highly recommend that - a lot of overlap in performers and afrocentrism, for obvious reasons, takes even more of a center stage. Also, this podcast: https://norcalpublicmedia.org/afropop-worldwide/soul-to-soul-at-50-a-look-back-at-ghana-s-legendary-music-festival-on-afropop-worldwide-sunday-at-9pm
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 12 July 2021 09:51 (two years ago) link
Stevie is hot as fuck.
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 12 July 2021 10:18 (two years ago) link
am hoping that there is going to be a lot more of the live footage released still.What was here was really great
― Stevolende, Monday, 12 July 2021 10:23 (two years ago) link
choreography of the Pips looked so weird. Too angular possibly. I guess it made sense on limited stage space or something.
― Stevolende, Monday, 12 July 2021 10:26 (two years ago) link
Maybe the weirdest triumph of all are the 5th Dimension, dolled out in creamsicle orange and Big Bird yellow, surely the whitest sounding group of 1969, dazzling the crowd with ‘Let the Sunshine In’.
This was one of the most pleasant surprises of the film for me. I saw the 5th Dimension in the mid-70s at the Minnesota State Fair, past their prime and going through the motions for a very white audience. In Summer of Soul they are so young and full of fire, grooving joyously and obviously on top of the world.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 12 July 2021 14:26 (two years ago) link
This was fantastic. I can see the argument about wanting more straight up performances, but I really liked the context and appreciated that it was (mostly) average attendees and not another round of Grohl and the usual suspects. Stevie's jam was so good.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 12 July 2021 14:31 (two years ago) link
― Yours in Sorrow, A Schoolboy: (forksclovetofu), Monday, 12 July 2021 15:31 (two years ago) link
was that Stevie skit a post credits thing on here.
― Stevolende, Monday, 12 July 2021 16:46 (two years ago) link
Some of the Sly footage was used in Ken Burns’ Jazz in 2001. They — Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Crouch, Burns, and George Wein — attempted to establish a narrative whereby Miles played Newport in 1969, saw Sly perform there, and decided at that moment to go electric. Problem is, when Miles played Newport in 1969, not only had he already gone electric — In A Silent Way was completed that February, but not yet released, and Chick Corea was in his band playing a Fender Rhodes — but his Newport set included material that would later appear on Bitches Brew. Wynton said that Miles looked at Sly, and then looked back at himself in 1969 and saw “an old man playing trumpet in a jazz band”; in fact, Miles had already seen, played, and recorded the future. Mr. Burns’ Jazz deliberately fudged the chronology in order to paint Miles as a pandering sellout, because the only way they could paint Miles as a pandering sellout was by fudging the chronology. (For Wynton and Crouch, Sly’s music was only worthy of derision.)All that said, for years I wondered what the Sly footage was from. There was a backdrop that said “Festival,” but it clearly wasn’t the Newport Jazz Festival — I’m pretty sure George Wein wouldn’t have shelled out for a catwalk.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 21:53 (two years ago) link
Well that certainly throws a wrench in the whole “this footage sat in a basement unseen for 50 years” detailNot that it really matters though
― calstars, Tuesday, 13 July 2021 23:00 (two years ago) link
I vividly remember seeing the Sly footage in the Ken Burns doc when it aired and also wondered for years what it was from, as well as the Nina footage in the fairly recent doc about her. Thought the movie was a little disingenuous on this front but still found it very entertaining.
― Chris L, Tuesday, 13 July 2021 23:44 (two years ago) link
"New York's WNEW-TV Metromedia Channel 5 (now WNYW) broadcast hour-long specials of the footage on Saturday evenings at 10:30 PM in June–August 1969."
So it wasn't entire unseen -- just never commercially available or considered for film-length curation. But I guess this also means there's at least 6 hours of this stuff that exists somewhere.
― billstevejim, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 03:18 (two years ago) link
My favorite part was the guy who was like "I was a suit guy" meaning he was into the Motown groups until he saw Sly.
I imagined that was the black equivalent of rocker dudes witnessing bands like the Stooges or Velvet Underground or Pistols for the first time and being blown away.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 03:54 (two years ago) link
Yup. European friends remember seeing a 1 to 2-hour compilation of clips from this festival regularly on Euro TV in the '70s or '80s; apparently a version of this was also syndicated in the USA in the same period. Four songs from the absolutely sensational Nina Simone set were included on a Nina dual disc CD-DVD in late 2005, which we enthusiastically reviewed in Arthur. Review is online here. Hal Tulchin optioned the footage many times to various parties through the years for feature docs... but in my direct experience, by the years 2006-10, he was absolutely impossible, completely out-of-touch with a reality/marketplace that had radically changed, and was unable/unwilling to see what kind of deal could be made. There's a reason this film only came out after he died.
― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 03:54 (two years ago) link
music doc director Robert Mugge critiques the movie on Facebook
Whatever your response to Questlove's new 2-hour doc SUMMER OF SOUL, I have to take exception with his fleshing out of his title with a parenthetical variation on Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," even though neither Gil nor his song are featured in the film....
It's also depressing knowing that Questlove says he picked these brief excerpts from 40 hours of available tape, and of course, whenever possible, he picked things that fit his themes, rather than the best songs by these artists. So, instead of using some of the more brilliant songs Nina Simone was performing at that time, he used well-meaning schmaltz like "To Be Young Gifted and Black." Not exactly theme music for a revolution, or the sort of powerful work we know her by. And although I thought the Mavis Staples/Mahalia Jackson performance of "Precious Lord" was thrilling, why do I need to see Stevie Wonder playing drums, the Fifth Dimension doing their "Hair" medley, or David Ruffin performing a mediocre version of "My Girl"? Considering that a professional musician "directed" this film, I found a lot of the musical choices to be really lame.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 03:55 (two years ago) link
why do I need to see Stevie Wonder playing drums
What kind of question is that
― JRN, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:13 (two years ago) link
lool i know he’s salty about it and rightfully so but also come the fuck on dude
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:39 (two years ago) link
I've read elsewhere that there are 50 hours, maybe more, and hope that one day viewers can go to the Schomburg Center, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, *and* The Smithsonian, among many others all over the world---and, at least on a desktop in a cubicle, make their own movies (I mean, like chosing clearly tagged files, with an overall time limit, so you could come back the next day and make another movie if the place isn't too crowded). I would pick every performance that Questlove picked, but in the context of whole sets---at least to check out, could be not every artist was good all the way through, at least by my standards---and I agree with those who think the interviewees and okay some of the op-ed people should have their own movie---I'd make one of those two, *after* watching all the music.This was worth seeing in a theater with a big-ass screen and surround sound: the ideal of analog x digital, with soft-edged, smog-tinted July clarity of movement and texture--all those clothes, all that matter-of-fact prime of life, even ailing Mahalia kept coming through like she'd no doubt had to do before---the camera level and steady and near the stage, and you are there--turn around through the waves of faces: all part of it, though not the overload of actually being in a crwod that size---pellucid sound, never harsh.But yeah, sound and vision of all that has to find its way through the talk, and it does---but, if you have to go to any trouble to make it to the theater, I'd say Hulu would not be that bad a choice; you're going to find your own way though either. I got used to it, and was glad that Stevie and Sly's crew came back, but the movie as now made is about the usual talk-music ratio (but yeah, no Grohl, no Bono, no usual suspects or other fooles).
― dow, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:41 (two years ago) link
I'd make one of those *too*
― dow, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:43 (two years ago) link
(but yeah, no Grohl, no Bono, no usual suspects or other fooles)
Half expected Keith Morris to show up just because I'm so used to seeing him in docs.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:45 (two years ago) link
Oh that might be alright--see about his new punk legacy band Off! over on Rolling Jazz...xp you're going to *have to* find your way though all that (talk) (and you will, but the theater experience [vs. Hulu] isn't worth lots of time and expense)
― dow, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:49 (two years ago) link
I thought I might have seen some of the Sly footage on a video compilation that was circulated something like 10 years ago . I think it may have been on Trader's Den but not sure. JUst checked and it's not turning up from the search engine but it was several years ago.Could have been dime but I think their archives list may have gone with yahoo groups.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 08:32 (two years ago) link
his fleshing out of his title with a parenthetical variation on Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," even though neither Gil nor his song are featured in the film....
What a weird objection, it's a phrase that's entered the pop culture lexicon ages ago. Is the suggestion that people will go see this expecting Gil to show up? Or that Gil would have been insulted to have his phrase used for it?
he picked these brief excerpts from 40 hours of available tape, and of course, whenever possible, he picked things that fit his themes, rather than the best songs by these artists.
This is called "making a documentary".
David Ruffin singing "I've got a sweeter song that the birds in the trees", then pointing at a dude literally sitting in a tree and going "I see you man", who wouldn't want that to be included? Sorry that Nina Simone transcends the one dimensional wrathful revolutionary image of her this dude prefers, and that the festival in celebrating the variety of black talent included things that he might find schmaltzy, but maybe that's part of the point?
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 11:21 (two years ago) link
also did he miss the part right after that where she did that spoken piece about how its time to get guns and start shooting people
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 12:17 (two years ago) link
But he grumbled about the getting guns to kill part too!
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 12:33 (two years ago) link
I thought I might have seen some of the Sly footage on a video compilation that was circulated something like 10 years ago
Yeah, I have something from one of those places (dime or trader's den) which is the full 40 minute Sly set. It has a big watermark over it so probably was a screener they sent out to market it for licensing. I hadn't noticed anything else from the festival (other than the Nina tracks Jay mentioned above from the dual disc) floating around.
― city worker, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 12:48 (two years ago) link
https://www.documentary.org/column/summer-soul-conversation-questlove-about-black-joy?fbclid=IwAR2HbdwqjQQdNJcl3gURY_211FWfLuBzkXlxrQa-MHSIGoy6WZa8eXeEFYI
Questlove interviewed by Melissa Haizlip, producer/ director of Mr. Soul—. Once I realized that there were seven really unique drum solos from all those drummers, I initially entertained the thought of doing a supercut. To me the drums and their history, and our story as Black people went hand in hand. And the drums weren’t just a metronome source; it was way past a communication device.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 12:51 (two years ago) link
I'll grant the production some artistic license because having a framing thesis really contributes to making this work as both a doc and a music movie - I took the message to be that the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival could have had the broad impact on a generation's identity that Woodstock did, but didn't. It explores this idea but avoids getting heavy handed about it. The balance of context and montage with full performances is very well paced. Here's an event that could have had mythic place in (or parallel to) the Merry Pranksters/Great Society/Vietnam/Monterey Pop/Summer of Love/Black Panther/Warhol Factory/MKL RFK/Woodstock/Altamont story, but didn't, so shit let's just bask in the tunes.
In my eyes, the editing was totally guided by a musician. I loved the closeup overlay of the CryBaby while Stevie plays the clav, for instance, letting you now how he's getting that SOUND.
I was struck by how prominent guitar was still - it hadn't taken on the white boy connotations yet. That rumble of chords during Sly and the Family Stones' final rave-up, they way it brings heaviness then lightness when it stops. Pop Staples' perfect tremolo tone. The performance that was the real revelation for me was Hugh Masekela. Always there in the bargain bins, I never quite understood his "moment" before.
― Citole Country (bendy), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 13:12 (two years ago) link
Questlove to Haizlip x-post interview spells out his intent & his background:
For me, I still got immersed and baptized in musical education without having a Woodstock of my own to claim. But I always wondered, if this [original concert] film were given the greenlight to be just as brilliant as it could have been, what a difference that would have made in the lives of young musicians such as myself, who really didn’t have musical documents growing up.
Thank God I had parents that were super hip and super cool, that would wake me up at 11:45 p.m. so I could watch the second song on Saturday Night Live before Soul Train came on. Philadelphia was weird. It was one of the markets in which Soul Train would come on at 1:00 in the morning instead of 12:00 in the afternoon like the rest of America.
So, I often wonder, had this film come out, how different music could have been. Because Woodstock defined a generation. This could have defined us, and it’s sort of weird what Soul Train wound up doing. But, no more "would’ve, could’ve, should’ve," I think that this film is still potent and it’s timeless and the fact that it’s 50 years later and we’re still talking about the same issues will show how valuable it still is.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 13:17 (two years ago) link
I was gonna bring up Wattstax and googling it apparently it's showing in London today!
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 13:27 (two years ago) link
I found a great live set by Isaac Hayes from Wattstax was out officially. Found it in Sister Ray a few years ago. THink its quite consistent across the duration.
& glad to have picked up the Hugh masekela 3cd 66-76 a few weeks ago . That's been great on the 2 cds I've heard so far.Covers quite a wide area I think. Also the Monterey Pop performance is so cool too.
Definitely want to pick up more Staples Singers. the early 70s soul stuff is tasty.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 13:41 (two years ago) link
There's a brilliant Staples box called Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection which has all their Stax albums, plus a CD with non-LP singles and their Wattstax performance.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 13:56 (two years ago) link
This dude (a former Crawdaddy staffer?!) gets at some of the backstory about why this footage sat there, and whether it was available on the internet, and whether anyone wrote about it in the press in the last 50 years, etc. He doesn't get it all, not by a long shot, but he gets some.
https://gregmitchell.substack.com/p/was-summer-of-soul-footage-really
― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 14:02 (two years ago) link
2007 article in Smithsonian magazine.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/black-woodstock-summer-of-soul-146793268/
― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:09 (two years ago) link
When Questlove says he couldn't find Harlem festival footage on YouTube in 2018, there's a good reason for that: "Summer of Soul"'s producer had been getting all the footage removed from YouTube for years.
― jaywbabcock, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:35 (two years ago) link
I melted during the Mavis scenes, especially the duet with Mahalia. She is an absolute treasure.
― Indexed, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:47 (two years ago) link
That duet is absolutely stunning.
David Ruffin performing a mediocre version of "My Girl"?
GT everlovin' FO. There's challops, and then there's just "no dude, you're wrong."
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:52 (two years ago) link
yeah, Ruffin was incredibly cool and charismatic
― tylerw, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:56 (two years ago) link
I'm really glad people are digging into the provenance of these tapes and just where they've been, how they might have been suppressed over the years, etc - I think this important to dig into for a variety reasons. That said, I'm kind of disappointed to see it start to overshadow what this doc accomplishes. No matter the path to how we got here, I'm seeing a lot of people enthusiastic about discovering this festival and excited about the performances, hopefully to prompt more releases of full sets.
In short, I think this doc was a slam dunk in terms of bringing this back into the public consciousness and I'm annoyed to see people focusing solely on the things it didn't do.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:57 (two years ago) link
xp re: Ruffin, yeah on what planet is that astonishing performance "mediocre"? Definitely one of my 2 or 3 favorite moments in this utterly stacked movie
― J. Sam, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:59 (two years ago) link
conversation about black joy IwAR2Hbdwq jQQdNJcl 3gURY_211FW fLuBzkXlxr Qa-MHSI Goy6WZ a8eXe and EFYI
― bobo honkin' slobo babe (sic), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 16:00 (two years ago) link
One unexpected joy was Oh Happy Day. I don't recall ever hearing it though it was a top 10 hit. Such a great performance.
― that's not my post, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 16:34 (two years ago) link
Yes, agree, the whole gospel section was the highlight for me
― Indexed, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 17:10 (two years ago) link
Yes it was. That song was ubiquitous on the radio when I was a kid because I'm lolold, but it's disappeared since. xp
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 17:14 (two years ago) link
yeah oh happy day is awesome, loved seeing that performance.
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 17:15 (two years ago) link
Yes!Oh happy day…oh happy daaay…
― calstars, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 17:39 (two years ago) link
Made me want to check out more Gospel yeah.Who was the hornplaying friend of MLK?
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:00 (two years ago) link
Ben Branch
― Josefa, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:04 (two years ago) link
thanks
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:19 (two years ago) link
one thing that stayed w me was that incredible scene when Jesse Jackson is talking about MLK’s assassination in the moment, and the crowd emotionally responding to it, you really feel the anguish still being carried
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:24 (two years ago) link
the dots really connect there of what this gathering is intended for, the heavy spiritual purpose & need for these performances
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:26 (two years ago) link
and Nina Simone too, in the same way
yeah Jackson telling the story about MLK and Ben Branch while Ben Branch is behind him vamping the intro to the song MLK asked him to play with his final words was pretty damn powerful
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 18:44 (two years ago) link
Disney's blocked a bunch of the festival YouTubes.
― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 20:28 (two years ago) link
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, July 14, 2021 2:26 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl)
otm
― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 20:33 (two years ago) link
looking forward to seeing this and i personally find 'the hair medley' quite thrilling even in its now-unfashionable recorded form (nb i think hair kinda sucks in general, like most musicals) so idk how its inclusion in this could possibly be considered a drawback
― dyl, Thursday, 15 July 2021 00:46 (two years ago) link
yeah i still love it, and 5th Dimension are great anyway! ppl hating on them hate fun
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 15 July 2021 00:56 (two years ago) link
Yep, totally agree. It may not be the best possible version of this documentary, but it's a Very Good one, and it will also no doubt lead to more exploration and releases from the rest of the tapes.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 15 July 2021 02:06 (two years ago) link
haven't seen it yet! but this interview with questlove was great: https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/questlove-summer-of-soul-black-music-history/
Why hasn’t there been such attentiveness toward archiving Black music, and why is it important?I know that is my purpose. No one is more of a sentimental packrat than I am. I am a VHS-collecting, Super 8-collecting archivist. I’ll take all the first five years of Jet Magazine archives, and make my girlfriend angry because five other boxes of Right On! Magazine are in the living room. I was collecting for personal reasons. But I now see that this is important. Once I finished this, everyone was coming out of the woodworks, DMing me like, “Questlove, we have 19 hours of footage of this concert.” Wait, what?! Things I never heard of before. Somewhere between nine to 15 other incredible high-level events were filmed for posterity and rejected, so now it’s in the basement of UCLA or somewhere. I’m keeping my eye on the Universal Hip-Hop Museum that’s opening in the Bronx. I’m hoping they will preserve history. But all too often, Black culture is so easily disposable in every aspect. TikTok content creations, our slang, our music, our style. I guess the attitude has always been: It’s not a big deal. It’s just a dance; it’s just a concert. But it is a big deal. And I realized it was a big deal with our very first interviewee Musa Jackson. Initially, I was concerned because he was 5 years old [during the Harlem Cultural Festival]. What 5-year-old is going to have true insight into the magnitude of what they’re going through? But when he talked to us, he was like, “This is my first memory of life.” He’s 56, 57 now. The common thing was that no one believed. Can you imagine trying to tell people, “Yeah, in Harlem, I saw Sly and the Family Stone and Stevie Wonder”? It’s unbelievable that this could be that easily dismissed.We conducted this interview without any context, no photos, showed him nothing. Just: “Alright, tell us everything you know.” And it was almost like talking to a medium. You don’t believe him because he was spot-on with everything. He knew the Fifth Dimension had on creamsicle outfits. When we showed him the footage, the emotional outpouring started. I realized we’re giving him his life back. Even for Marilyn McCoo [of the Fifth Dimension]. She’s done everything. She was in one of the first Black groups to win a major Grammy. I was wondering, why is this particular show hitting your heartstrings with the millions of things that you’ve done? And suddenly, I realized that she and I had something in common. No matter what job they have, every Black person in their workspace has to juggle code-switching. Between Motown and certain acts that wanted not to make it but survive, you had to code-switch.No example is more obvious than David Ruffin’s performance. It’s in the middle of August. He has on a wool tuxedo and a coat. Why would he do this? And then I thought, man, you’d rather suffer and be uncomfortable in the name of professionalism. That’s something. That was implemented in him via his Motown charm school days. I asked Marilyn McCoo why I’d never seen them be this loose and relaxed at a performance before. She was like, “We’d been dying to perform for Black people for the longest.” At that point, they were the biggest act in the world, bigger than the Supremes. They had the No. 1 song. To them, it’s like, “We had to do this because this is our one chance to get to our people.”
I know that is my purpose. No one is more of a sentimental packrat than I am. I am a VHS-collecting, Super 8-collecting archivist. I’ll take all the first five years of Jet Magazine archives, and make my girlfriend angry because five other boxes of Right On! Magazine are in the living room. I was collecting for personal reasons. But I now see that this is important. Once I finished this, everyone was coming out of the woodworks, DMing me like, “Questlove, we have 19 hours of footage of this concert.” Wait, what?! Things I never heard of before. Somewhere between nine to 15 other incredible high-level events were filmed for posterity and rejected, so now it’s in the basement of UCLA or somewhere. I’m keeping my eye on the Universal Hip-Hop Museum that’s opening in the Bronx. I’m hoping they will preserve history. But all too often, Black culture is so easily disposable in every aspect. TikTok content creations, our slang, our music, our style. I guess the attitude has always been: It’s not a big deal. It’s just a dance; it’s just a concert. But it is a big deal. And I realized it was a big deal with our very first interviewee Musa Jackson. Initially, I was concerned because he was 5 years old [during the Harlem Cultural Festival]. What 5-year-old is going to have true insight into the magnitude of what they’re going through? But when he talked to us, he was like, “This is my first memory of life.” He’s 56, 57 now. The common thing was that no one believed. Can you imagine trying to tell people, “Yeah, in Harlem, I saw Sly and the Family Stone and Stevie Wonder”? It’s unbelievable that this could be that easily dismissed.
We conducted this interview without any context, no photos, showed him nothing. Just: “Alright, tell us everything you know.” And it was almost like talking to a medium. You don’t believe him because he was spot-on with everything. He knew the Fifth Dimension had on creamsicle outfits. When we showed him the footage, the emotional outpouring started. I realized we’re giving him his life back. Even for Marilyn McCoo [of the Fifth Dimension]. She’s done everything. She was in one of the first Black groups to win a major Grammy. I was wondering, why is this particular show hitting your heartstrings with the millions of things that you’ve done? And suddenly, I realized that she and I had something in common. No matter what job they have, every Black person in their workspace has to juggle code-switching. Between Motown and certain acts that wanted not to make it but survive, you had to code-switch.
No example is more obvious than David Ruffin’s performance. It’s in the middle of August. He has on a wool tuxedo and a coat. Why would he do this? And then I thought, man, you’d rather suffer and be uncomfortable in the name of professionalism. That’s something. That was implemented in him via his Motown charm school days. I asked Marilyn McCoo why I’d never seen them be this loose and relaxed at a performance before. She was like, “We’d been dying to perform for Black people for the longest.” At that point, they were the biggest act in the world, bigger than the Supremes. They had the No. 1 song. To them, it’s like, “We had to do this because this is our one chance to get to our people.”
― Z_TBD (Karl Malone), Thursday, 22 July 2021 19:45 (two years ago) link
Caught this at the cinema last night - first visit for about 15 months. Damn. Not much to add to the glowing praise here. It's Sly who is bright in my head this morning but so many amazing performances. Not a criticism, but would have loved more jazz: the Roach and Sharrock excerpts were tantalising to say the least.
― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Monday, 26 July 2021 09:22 (two years ago) link
Who was Sharrock with in this.I have the expanded Liver At The Whiskey 1969 which is great cos he's doing his own stuff with the players from the Herbie Mann band backing him and have now seen what the price that's going for is. Great performances and stuff so shame its no longer affordable. There is some great footage of him with taht band or at least a Herbie Mann band from roughly the same time taht was up on youtube a couple of years ago. I think from Europe.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLN9O03YANU
― Stevolende, Monday, 26 July 2021 12:17 (two years ago) link
Yeah Sharrock is with Mann's band, although that's not totally clear from the isolated clip of him they play toward the end.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 26 July 2021 14:40 (two years ago) link
I think from Europe.
RAI, so Italy.
I originally couldn't find the thread it was on, but I posted a YouTube of part of that concert on the Best track on Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits (1970) thread in October 2019. The video has since disappeared.
― Wouldn't disgrace a Michael Jackson (Tom D.), Monday, 26 July 2021 15:36 (two years ago) link
Good interview w Questlove about this---stream or download:https://www.npr.org/2021/07/21/1018880730/questlove-on-summer-of-soul
― dow, Tuesday, 27 July 2021 00:27 (two years ago) link
https://www.quartzcity.net/ilx/andrew_white_summerofsoul.jpg
I was wondering who Stevie's bassist was (if you can look away from Stevie) and that led to a TalkBass thread who ID'ed him as Andrew White - iconoclastic Coltrane-scholar, saxophone player/bassist, who later played with the 5th Dimension and Weather Report. He passed away last year - his bio is flat-out amazing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_White_(saxophonist)https://www.weatherreportdiscography.org/andrew-nathaniel-white-iii-1942-2020/https://www.capitalbop.com/musician-profile-andrew-white-keeper-of-the-trane-is-a-living-legend-unknown-to-many/
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 8 August 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
I'm still knocked out that they (and everyone!) were doing all the harmonies and choreography with little/no stage monitors.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 8 August 2021 21:06 (two years ago) link
A friend of Andrew’s told me a (likely apocryphal, given the timeline) story about how Andrew was down to his last $50, and saw a posting in a music store about the Fifth Dimension auditioning bassists. He’d never heard any of their songs, but he bought a bass guitar — an instrument he had never played before — with his last $50, and got the gig.xp
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Sunday, 8 August 2021 21:07 (two years ago) link
Yeah, apocryphal story or not, that guy is still amazing and not very well known.
― No Particular Place to POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 August 2021 21:28 (two years ago) link
From the Capitol Bop link…
“The jazz scene has never been good here, in my opinion,” he said. “That’s why I’m thankful for rock ‘n’ roll; I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for rock ‘n’ roll.” This is a reference to a break he received in 1968. Stevie Wonder was scheduled to play at D.C.’s Carter Barron Amphitheatre, and at the last minute he found himself needing a bass player. White received a call from major D.C.-based bassist Keter Betts.“I had just started playing bass around that time,” White said, “so I did the Carter Barron show and one thing led to another. I ended up staying with Stevie for almost three years.” And although it may be a stretch to think of Wonder’s music as “rock ‘n’ roll,” White uses the term for Wonder’s commercially successful R&B sound. From Wonder’s band, White landed a spot as the 5th Dimension’s bass player from 1970 until 1975. “That position and the one with Stevie helped me pay the bills,” he said with a smile.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 8 August 2021 21:56 (two years ago) link
Does this link have anything about his extensive and accurate transcriptions of Coltrane’s solos? Or maybe it was mentioned in the post up above.
― No Particular Place to POLL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 8 August 2021 22:12 (two years ago) link
All of the links mention his Coltrane work - this is also a good one:https://www.jazzspeaks.org/andrew-white-iii-speaks/
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 8 August 2021 22:25 (two years ago) link
I really want to know more about this "release" of his:
White was a music scholar, graduating cum laude from Howard University in 1964 with a major in music theory and a minor in the oboe. He continued his academic career at the Paris Conservatory of Music, Dartmouth College, and the State University of New York, and became the principal oboist for the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra in 1968. But he also had a bawdy sense of humor that was unfiltered by the norms of polite society. One of the forty-odd LPs he self-produced was Far Out Flatulence: A Concerto for Flatulaphone, which consists of 56 minutes of White farting into a microphone
(from the Weather Report link above)
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 8 August 2021 23:18 (two years ago) link
Looks like there's a LOT about that here:
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/288804/i-genius-i-capitalist/
Guardians of jazz virtue fed up with unimaginative neotraditionalists would do well to hire Andrew White as their spokesman. In his new book, I, Educator, the 53-year-old Northeast D.C. resident attacks the state of jazz (and jazz education) with a fierce wit and—despite indications to the contrary—a sound mind. But hire is the key word, because White isn’t going to work for free. The multitalented saxophonist, oboist, bassist, composer, transcriber, and writer is, above all, a businessman. Having created and marketed over 1,700 different products (according to his self-penned bio, “Andrew White is the most voluminously self-produced artist”), White is always ready for some green.“That’s my main thing…the money. I’ve made my artistic statement….I’m just an artist, so later for that—let’s make a good living with the art,” exclaims White, sitting in the living room of his South Dakota Avenue home. “I’m diversified. I got a lot of stuff out, so show me some duckies! I’m in business!”As Andrew’s Musical Enterprises Inc., White has been in business for 25 years. He releases his own records, books, John Coltrane transcriptions (565 to date), and whatever else he thinks can make him some dough. The business is nothing if not demand-driven. An acquaintance whose girlfriend had an odd sexual kink once requested a tape that would be, literally, a gas, and White responded with his most jaw-droppingly outrageous product: Far Out Flatulence: A Concerto for Flatulaphone, which comprises 56 minutes of White lettin’ ’em fly. For $15, it can be yours, too.White claims that all 27 of his books and treatises were “written out of the needs of my customers.” This number includes titles like 100 and One “Wise Cracks!” and Sideman! (both from his “X-Rated Band Stories” series), and a treatise on the music of John Coltrane, Trane n’ Me, (available in English and in a German-published translation).
“That’s my main thing…the money. I’ve made my artistic statement….I’m just an artist, so later for that—let’s make a good living with the art,” exclaims White, sitting in the living room of his South Dakota Avenue home. “I’m diversified. I got a lot of stuff out, so show me some duckies! I’m in business!”
As Andrew’s Musical Enterprises Inc., White has been in business for 25 years. He releases his own records, books, John Coltrane transcriptions (565 to date), and whatever else he thinks can make him some dough. The business is nothing if not demand-driven. An acquaintance whose girlfriend had an odd sexual kink once requested a tape that would be, literally, a gas, and White responded with his most jaw-droppingly outrageous product: Far Out Flatulence: A Concerto for Flatulaphone, which comprises 56 minutes of White lettin’ ’em fly. For $15, it can be yours, too.
White claims that all 27 of his books and treatises were “written out of the needs of my customers.” This number includes titles like 100 and One “Wise Cracks!” and Sideman! (both from his “X-Rated Band Stories” series), and a treatise on the music of John Coltrane, Trane n’ Me, (available in English and in a German-published translation).
The Chuck Tingle of his time.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 August 2021 23:20 (two years ago) link
The whole piece is remarkable, really!
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 8 August 2021 23:21 (two years ago) link
Wow good timing, I read this bump right before getting to that performance in the doc (been watching it slowly in bits), and his bass playing definitely stuck out.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 9 August 2021 17:09 (two years ago) link
finally finished watching this and it was just so good. I never minded the cuts between stage and interviews and archival footage because the music was always there in the background giving it consistency.
probably the most blown away by the BB King, Staples Singers, David Ruffin, and Nina Simone sequences but it's all great
― sleeve, Monday, 9 August 2021 21:48 (two years ago) link
Meet the archivist who saved the historic footage that became ‘Summer of Soul’ - LATimes, Aug 19 2021
― jaywbabcock, Tuesday, 24 August 2021 14:40 (two years ago) link
I enjoyed this a lot. Echoing the feeling that it would have been nice with less talking and more uncut music footage, or at least if there was a separate cut available just to see nothing but performances and audience. A fair number of electrifying moments.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Saturday, 28 August 2021 04:19 (two years ago) link
WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO WATCH THIS HOLY HELL WHAT IS THIS I'M SPEECHLESS
i mean, it feels like everything was the best part. everyone's fashion was so on point — even people in the audience looked like some cool mofos.
on that front, i have to agree with alfred: gladys knight . . . (swoon)
more than that though, mavis staples just comes through once again and proves that "soulfulness" (whatever it is) is real and effective. that performance with mahalia? my god. what a beautiful and powerful presence she is.
the whole part with hugh masekela and ray baretto and those folks was just unreal!
and i mean . . . stevie was just . . . i don't even know man. i do believe in spiritual possession manifesting through music and when stevie is pounding away at that clavinet, i had tears of joy. just unbelievable. like if life was a video game, stevie had just touched the starman from super mario for that shit. holy hell!
when does part two come out?
― please don't refer to me as (Austin), Saturday, 27 November 2021 15:37 (two years ago) link
Dunno! But---
SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK TO BE RELEASED VIA
LEGACY RECORDINGS ON JANUARY 28, 2022
DIRECTORIAL DEBUT FROM AHMIR “QUESTLOVE” THOMPSON SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED) STREAMING ON HULU NOW
...For the album, Questlove carefully selected 17 live renditions of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin, and soul classics performed over the course of The Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 as chronicled by the film. Heralding the soundtrack, Sly & The Family Stone’s performance of “Sing A Simple Song” debuts today. Listen to it HEREhttps://legacyrecordings.link/SASSPR
Additionally, the Soundtrack boasts everything from B.B. King’s poignant and powerful guitar-driven gem “Why I Sing The Blues” to the rapturous “Precious Lord Take My Hand” by The Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir featuring Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples. Not to mention, Gladys Knight & The Pips show out on a simmering “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” while Nina Simone’s voice smolders on “Backlash Blues” and “Are You Ready.”
Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is available for pre-order now in digital and CD formats HEREhttps://legacyrecordings.link/SOSPR
A vinyl LP configuration will be released later next year.
CD TRACKLISTING:
1. The Chambers Brothers - “Uptown”
2. B.B. King - “Why I Sing The Blues”
3. The 5th Dimension - “Don’t Cha Hear Me Callin’ To Ya”
4. The 5th Dimension - “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)”
5. David Ruffin - “My Girl”
6. The Edwin Hawkins Singers - “Oh Happy Day”
7. The Staple Singers - “It’s Been A Change”
8. The Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir Featuring Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples - “Precious Lord Take My Hand”
9. Gladys Knight & The Pips - “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”
10. Mongo Santamaria - “Watermelon Man”11. Ray Barretto - “Together”
12. Herbie Mann- “Hold On, I’m Comin’”
13. Sly & The Family Stone - “Sing A Simple Song”
14. Sly & The Family Stone - “Everyday People”
15. Nina Simone - “Backlash Blues”
16. Nina Simone - “Are You Ready”
Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
DIGITAL TRACKLISTING:
3. The 5th Dimension - “Don’t Cha Hear Me Callin’ To Ya”4. The 5th Dimension - “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)”
10. Mongo Santamaria - “Watermelon Man”
11. Ray Barretto - “Together”
15. Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach - “Africa”
16. Nina Simone - “Backlash Blues”
17. Nina Simone - “Are You Ready”For more information, please contact:
carleen at theoriel dot com
Legacy Recordings, Media Relations: Maria dot Malta at sonymusic dot com
― dow, Friday, 10 December 2021 02:23 (two years ago) link
sweet
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 10 December 2021 02:40 (two years ago) link
I’ll pick this up no matter what, but bummed they couldn’t stretch it to two discs to fit “Africa” on the physical edition and to include the Stevie Wonder song.
Still, very cool news!
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 10 December 2021 02:50 (two years ago) link
That's great news but I'm more interested in the Blu-Ray, which I hope contains at least one extra disc of uninterrupted performances as mentioned upthread.
― TO BE A JAZZ SINGER YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SCAT (Jazzbo), Friday, 10 December 2021 19:29 (two years ago) link
i'm genuinely more excited by the soundtrack than the movie but i'm aware i am a weirdo
― When Young Sheldon began to rap (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 03:40 (two years ago) link
https://deadline.com/2022/02/summer-of-soul-abc-broadcast-premiere-oscar-nominated-documentary-ahmir-questlove-thompson-news-1234931050
― This Is Not An ILX Username (LaMonte), Friday, 11 February 2022 02:03 (two years ago) link
Nice, Network tv airing on ABC February 20.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 11 February 2022 15:10 (two years ago) link
questlove gonna get him an egot
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 16 February 2022 04:08 (two years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/12/the-20-greatest-concert-films-ranked
Might be splitting hairs, but I see this more as a music documentary (I've not timed it, but I'm sure there's more talking heads than music) than concert movie, so I'm not sure if I'd say its better than Sign O The Times, Jazz On a Summers Day, or stop Making Sense, or whatever, but best concert movie EVER? Anyway, now that concert movies are getting talked about again, I'm hoping they release a sequel made up of the actual sets from Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone etc, or at least issue it on a DVD/Blu Ray release at some point.
― midnightmarauder, Saturday, 4 November 2023 18:04 (five months ago) link
I thought there was a little too much editorializing/splaining from contemporary talking heads---gratuitously, since the socio-political connections with what's happenin' now were obvious enough, and what's happenin' then spelled out at times by performers and audience---fuck a moon landing, we got people starving without that money in space, etc.---but overall, the talk/music ratio was quite reasonable, helped considerably by quality of music (also quality of the talk re commentary by performers and members of the audience looking back)
― dow, Saturday, 4 November 2023 19:00 (five months ago) link
Love the Sly set so much
― calstars, Saturday, 4 November 2023 19:03 (five months ago) link
Yes, that drummer still rattling my double-take skull---and he's just a part of it of course.Have always hoped that all the footage might be accessible at say National Museum of African American History and Culture etc. if not as more movie releases per se.
― dow, Saturday, 4 November 2023 19:06 (five months ago) link