Home > Music > R&B > Soul > Live At The Harlem Square Club, 1963: One Night Stand

Performer: Sam Cooke
Engineer: Steve Rosenthal
Producer: Rob Santos
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Recorded live at the Harlem Square Club, Miami, Florida on January 12, 1963. Includes liner notes by Peter Guralnick. Personnel: Sam Cooke (vocals); Cornell Dupree, Clifton White (guitars); King Curtis, Tate Houston (saxophone); George Stubbs (piano); Jimmy Lewis (electric bass); Albert "June" Gardner (drums). Liner Note Author: Peter Guralnick. Sam Cooke's reputation as a brilliant singer is sometimes maintained in spite of some of his records, not because of them. Hugo and Luigi, his RCA producers, often drowned Cooke's stunning pipes in an ocean of inappropriate orchestras and choirs. But compare their single version of "Chain Gang" to the stripped-down, gently swaying, and considerably more heartfelt live version on LIVE AT THE HARLEM SQUARE CLUB; no doubt about it, Cooke was a master, and if his producers had been a bit more sympathetic, his stature would be even higher now than it is. Recorded in Florida in 1963, just over a year before his murder, this 10-track set puts Cooke in front of a small combo and just lets the man go. Every track is a small masterpiece of soul phrasing, and the band is more than up to Cooke's vocal prowess. Listen and be amazed.

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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