One of the highlights of Woodstock is Sly and the Family Stone’s volcanic performance of “I Want to Take You Higher.” Framed against the jet-black 3 a.m. sky, Sly Stone’s feet never seem to touch the stage as he leads 400,000 hippies through the five-minute rave-up. That moment cemented his musical legend.
But it wasn’t the first time in August 1969 Stone played to a six-figure audience. Earlier that month, the Family Stone showed up unannounced at the Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-week concert series that took over Mount Morris Park in New York City every Sunday afternoon. Playing in front of a mostly Black crowd, Stone was just as electric as he would be at Woodstock. That performance was also captured on camera, but instead of being edited into a groundbreaking documentary of the counterculture’s high-water mark, the footage ended up moldering in the basement of TV producer Hal Tulchin for 50 years, along with 48-hours worth of performances from artists like B.B. King and Stevie Wonder.
The footage was rediscovered in 2012 by producer Robert Fyvolent, who for years searched around for a director to take on the challenge of making a Woodstock-like film until he finally got a yes from an unlikely source. Questlove, the drummer for the Roots and bandleader on The Tonight Show, had never helmed a film before, but he brought some very important skills to the table. First, he is a scholar of American music and wrote Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation. He already knew many of the people involved, so he had the ability to put the show in context for the audience. Second, he was an obsessive maker of mixtapes in his youth and now regularly performs as a DJ, so he knows how to arrange a playlist for maximum impact.
I have long been of the opinion that some form of musical training is a key ingredient for a filmmaker because a sense of rhythm and timing is invaluable in the editing suite. Questlove’s Summer of Soul proves my point. Painstakingly assembled from the Harlem Cultural Festival footage and interspersed with interviews from performers and audience members, this is one of the greatest concert films ever made. When it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this January, it won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. Contacted via Zoom during the virtual awards ceremony, the shocked Questlove said he didn’t even know the festival gave out awards.
The lineup for the six-week concert series is spectacular. Nina Simone’s set is dangerous and brooding. A cherubic-looking B.B. King is at the top of his game. David Ruffin, at that point separated from The Temptations, shows the exquisite range of his voice could hold up on its own. From the beginning, Questlove shows an uncanny knack for picking the best moments; the film opens with Stevie Wonder playing a drum solo. Did you know Stevie Wonder was a kick-ass drummer? I didn’t. Later, Wonder is shown being a punk to the MC, and you realize that the incredibly poised musician you just saw tear up the keyboard was still just a kid. Questlove spends a lot of time on the 5th Dimension’s polished harmonies, with Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. talking about how they came to make a hit out of “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In” from the musical, Hair, and making a case for them as one of the greats of the era.
The climax of the film has deep Memphis roots. Sunday, July 13, 1969, was gospel day at the Harlem Cultural Festival, headlined by Mahalia Jackson and the Staple Singers. Backing them up was the Operation Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir, led by Memphis saxophonist Ben Branch. A year before, Branch had been one of the last people to talk to Martin Luther King Jr., who requested Branch play “Take My Hand, Precious Lord.” Onstage in Harlem, Jesse Jackson introduced the song, but as the band swelled, Mahalia Jackson found herself overcome with emotion. She tapped a young Mavis Staples on the shoulder and asked her to take the first verse. Staples, who idolized Jackson, found herself unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight in front of 100,000 people and rose to the occasion in stunning fashion. Then, the two women share a mic for a transcendent moment. It’s a performance that takes its place among Hendrix at Monterey Pop, Queen at Live Aid, Bowie at Glastonbury, Prince at the Super Bowl, and Beyonce at Coachella as one of the greatest ever captured on film. Words fail, as they often do, to express the power of this music.