Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Liner Note Author: Ahmir Thompson .
Recording information: The Harlem Cultural Festival, Mount Morris Park, Harlem (1969-06-??&1969-07-??&1969-).
Director: Hal Tulchin.
Extensive footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was excerpted and relegated to two contemporary one-hour specials on CBS and ABC. Clips of the six-week event -- held at the neighborhood's Mount Morris Park with a combined attendance of 300,000 -- surfaced fleetingly online, but it wasn't until 2021 that the historic event was truly brought to light with the Questlove-directed Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Restorative in nature and effect, the riveting documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and had won a bountiful number of awards by the time the soundtrack was made available the following January. Unfortunately, the sets from Stevie Wonder and Hugh Masekela are not represented here, but the album still presents, to quote the directive of Howard University's WHUR, 360 degrees of the Black experience. Anyone who has seen the film won't be surprised by the remarkable quality of the recordings, bearing minor blemishes only the stuffiest audiophile would care about. Even if the fidelity was halved, there would be more than enough power and sociopolitical context in these performances to induce goose bumps, tears, and other physical and emotional reactions. The succession of voices is astonishing. There's David Ruffin singing "My Girl," utilizing the crowd as his background singers, filling his solo version with sweetened falsetto and ad-libs like "How ya doin', brother?" (as he waves at a gentleman swaying in a tree). The Edwin Hawkins Singers roll and soar through "Oh Happy Day," which had recently put gospel in the Top Ten of the Hot 100. Then come the Staple Singers with Pops Staples delivering a motivational talk during "It's Been a Change," followed by Jesse Jackson calling on Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples to lead the Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir for a belting "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." That all occurs during a 23-minute sequence surrounded by joyous appearances from the likes of the 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Sly & the Family Stone, and a galvanizing closing stretch courtesy of Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach (left off the CD edition due to format constraints) and Nina Simone. There's also an illuminating cross-cultural jazz block with percussionists Ray Barretto and Mongo Santamaria followed by Herbie Mann skipping through "Hold On, I'm Comin'" -- at least until guitarist Sonny Sharrock usurps the flutist to slash through Roy Ayers' vibraphone. The track sequencing is skip-proof. This and the film belong in every library on the planet. ~ Andy Kellman