Portrait of a Legend 1951-1964

Performer: Sam Cooke
Artist: Billy Preston; Lou Rawls; Bobby Womack
Engineer: Gus Skinas; Dave Hassinger; Dino Lappas; Al Schmitt
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Contains an untitled hidden track which follows "Jesus Gave Me Water." Personnel includes: Sam Cooke (vocals); Clif White, Bobby Womack (guitar); Billy Preston (organ); Lou Rawls (background vocals). Producers include: Bumps Blackwell, Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, Rene Hall, Sam Cooke. Compilation producers: Jody H. Klein, Teri Landi. Includes liner notes by Peter Guralnick. Personnel: Lou Rawls (vocals); Joseph R. Gibbons (guitar, banjo); Edgar Blanchard, Everett Barksdale, Ulysses Livingston, Glen Campbell, William Pitman, Bob King , Howard Roberts , Norman Bartold, George Collier, John Pisano, Leroy Crume, Rene Hall, Tommy Tedesco , Barney Kessel, Bobby Womack, Clifton White (guitar); John DeVoogdt, Darrel Terwilliger, Robert Barene, Marvin Limonick, Hinda Barnet, Archie Levin, Elliot Fisher, Joseph Saxon, Myron Sandler, Gareth "Garry" Nuttycombe, Harold Dicterow, Fred Fradkin, Ambrose Russo, Irving Lipschultz, Tibor Zelig, Jack Pepper, Ben Miller , Isadore Roman, Leonard Malarsky, Max Cahn, Alfred Brown , Marshall Sosson, Sidney Sharp, Israel Baker, Arnold Belnick, Charles Libove, David Nadien, Ralph Schaeffer, William Kurash, Harry Lookofsky (violin); Wilbert Nuttycombe, Alexander Neiman, Harry Hyams, Allan Harshman, Samuel Boghossian (viola); Joseph Coppin, Emmet Sargeant, Armand Karpoff, Cecil Figelski, Jesse Ehrlich, Frederick Seykora (cello); Jewell L. Grant, Edgar Redmond, John Kelson, Jr., Plas Johnson , Red Tyler, William Green (saxophone); John Anderson , Robert Bryant, Anthony Terran, Stu Williamson , Melvin Lastie (trumpet); William Hinshaw (French horn); Louise Blackburn, John Ewing , Dave Wells (trombone); Russell Bridges, Ernie Freeman, Edward Truman Beal, Harold Battiste, Warren Myles, Raymond Johnson, Ernie Hayes (piano); Billy Preston (organ); Emil Radocchia (marimba, timpani, percussion); Frank Capp, Eddie Hall, Hal Blaine (drums, percussion); David "Panama" Francis, Earl Palmer , Charles Blackwell, Ronald Selico, June Gardner, John Boudreaux (drums); Mike Pacheco (congas); Jack Costanza (bongos); Julius Wechter (percussion); Tom Kenny, Doreen Tryden, Betty Jane Baker, Carol Lee Lombard, R.B. Robinson, Alicia Adams, Ralph Brewster, Jimmie Outler, S.S. Farley, Robert Tebow, Thomas L. Bruster, Jackie Ward, James Bryant, Sue Allen, Lee Gotch, J.J. Farley, Charles Parlato, Loulie Jean Norman, Paul Foster, Richard Gibbs, S.R. Crain, Sally Stevens, Jack Halloran (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Peter Guralnick. Recording information: Capitol Records, Hollywood, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Cosimo's Studio, New Orleans, LA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Master Recorders, Hollywood, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); RCA Studio, New York, NY (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Rex Productions, Los Angeles, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Specialty Studios, Los Angeles, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); United Recording, Hollywood, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964); Universal Recorders, Hollywood, CA (03/01/1951-11/16/1964). Arrangers: Jimmie Haskell; Rene Hall. Sam Cooke was a giant not just in the soul world, but in the larger scheme of American music. His melding of soul, gospel, and pop was as trenchant as it was revolutionary and influential. This unbeatable 30-song compilation touches on every aspect of this phenomenally gifted singer-songwriter's career. The romantic croon of "You Send Me" shares space with the mournful "Sad Mood," the romping "Twistin' the Night Away," and the moving social/spiritual statement "A Change Is Gonna Come" (this compilation is one of the rare collections to have this stirring and sought-after track). For pure fun, it's hard to beat the humor-filled "Another Saturday Night." Perhaps the master stroke, though, is "Havin' a Party." As no less esteemed a personage than Bruce Springsteen once observed, it's an ostensibly celebratory song that seems to bear a deep sadness via Cooke's vocal performance, a sense of laughing to keep from crying. At the same time, Cooke manages the considerable feat of making loneliness sound like fun. It takes some kind of singer to pull off a trick like that. And it takes some kind of production team (take a bow, Teri Landi and Jody Klein) to bring such vibrant new life to the legendary material so lovingly remastered and repackaged for this top-shelf compilation.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.120) - Ranked #106 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "Cooke invented soul music, and his gospel-rooted vocal style, with its swooping transitions from silk to sandpaper, is one of the most influential of the last half-century..." Q (12/03, p.148) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...This remastered SACD Best Of perfectly showcases the sweet innovations of the man many call the greatest singer of all time....Sublime..."

In his brief yet luminous career, Sam Cooke made perhaps a dozen recordings that were milestones of soul, and laid the groundwork for most of the R&B-related music that would dominate the charts for decades afterward. Cooke's signature sound fused the passion of his beloved gospel music with a silky-smooth, assured pop-vocal style. As a singer, songwriter, and producer, he was one of the most important figures in both pop and soul music in the 20th century. In 1964, while still at the prime of his musical ability, Cooke was murdered in a California hotel--a sudden end for a gifted and influential artist.

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