An album of live recordings from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival

The album “Summer of Soul (… Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” is the soundtrack to Questlove’s directorial debut of the same name – a documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The long player contains live recordings of the festival and will be released on November 28. January 2022 on CD and in digital formats. A vinyl version will be released in the summer. Prior to this, the film material, as well as much of the festival’s audio material, had been missing for over fifty years.

In his directorial debut, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson explores a historical event that celebrated African American history, culture and fashion. The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took place at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) around the same time period as the Woodstock Festival. It comprised six events with around 300,000 visitors and is also known as “Black Woodstock”.

“The performances are truly masterful”

For the album, Thompson selected seventeen live recordings of songs performed at the festival. These are classics from jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and soul. As a little foretaste of the album, Sly & The Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” can already be heard:

In addition to Sly and his band, the following artists are represented on the soundtrack:

Digital track listing:

1. The Chambers Brothers – “Uptown”
2. BB 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. Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach – “Africa”
16. Nina Simone – “Backlash Blues”
17. Nina Simone – “Are You Ready

CD track listing:

1. The Chambers Brothers – “Uptown”
2. BB 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”