SOULFUL DOCUMENTARIES
The awards success of Summer of Soul leads us to look back at other films from that era
Amir ‘Questlove’ Thompson’s directorial debut, ‘Summer of Soul,’ about a 1969 Harlem music festival, has been dominating awards competitions throughout the winter and seems poised to bring home an Oscar. In light of that success I thought it would be cool to direct younger viewers to other soul/funk/gospel films set in that same incredibly fertile early ‘70s period when “Black Power” was chanted at rallies, Afros were plentiful and black music was at one of its creative peaks. Some of these films were released not long after the concerts were filmed. Others, like ‘Summer of Soul', sat on shelves unseen for decades.
‘Soul to Soul’ was shot in Accra, Ghana to celebrate that country’s 14th independence day on March 6, 1971. The film mixes documentary footage of life in Ghana with intense performances from Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, the Staples Singers, Santana and the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. The footage of Tina Turner and the Ikettes is sensational.
‘Wattstax’ captures a 1972 day long concert help at the Los Angeles Coliseum by Stax Records. Issac Hayes was at his ‘Black Moses’ peak and headlines, but the concert is full of sensational performances including the Staples Singers, the Bar-Kays, Rufus Thomas, the Dramatics, Albert King, Luther Ingram, the Emotions and others on the label’s legendary roster. Richard Pryor, who had recorded a comedy record for Stax, is recorded sitting at a table in Watts and is brutally funny. This show was shot only a few years after the infamous ‘65 riot and is bursting with declarations of black pride with young Rev. Jesse Jackson leading the way and Melvin Van Peebles making a cameo appearence on the mic.
‘Soul Power’ was shot in 1974 as part of the promotion for the Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight title fight in Kinshasa, Zaire, but wasn’t released until 2008. It’s a companion piece to the fight documentary ‘When We Were Kings,’ but stands firmly on its own with extraordinary performances from Bill Withers, the Spinners, Miriam Makeba, and Manu Dibango. James Brown and the JBs lay down heavy funk in the motherland. But my favorite section is the appearences of the Fania All-Stars, a collective of the biggest names in salsa who all recorded for the New York based Fania label. Celia Cruz bringing that Afro-Latin flavor back home is soul stirring. There’s also a off-shoot film focused just on Cruz titled ‘Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars in Africa’ that includes material not found in earlier doc.
‘Salsa’ was built around a 1974 Fania All-Stars concert at Yankee Stadium and, aside from Cruz, features an incredible band featuring Willie Colon, Ray Barretto and some of the finest Latino musicians in NYC. Aside from the live performances the film includes a history of the latin image in Hollywood with some choice footage of Dezi Arnaz. Equally important is ‘Our Latin Thing’ from 1972, which features the velvet vocals of Hector Lavoe along with bandleader Johnny Pacheco and other notables explaining the birth of salsa and its roots in both Puerto Rico and Cuba.
The epic 1970 ‘Woodstock’ doc is best known as a document of the counter culture, meaning it was very white and very hippie, ending with Jimi Hendrix recalibrating “The National Anthem.” But to sections are deep in funk and soul. Santana’s “Soul Survivor” is acid rock built a funky foundation that rises and falls like sea waves. Sly & the Family Stone’s night time perfomance of “Higher” brought soul showmanship to a white event and solidified Sly’s legend.
‘Amazing Grace’ was shot in 1972 over two nights at a Los Angeles church and not edited and released until 2018. This chronicle of Aretha Franklin singing gospel and church inspired soul anthems, backed by a top soul rhythm section and the powerhouse choir of Rev. James Cleveland, had long been a bestselling album, but the live footage of peak Aretha is the definitive statement on soul singing and one of the great perfomances in American musical history. To paraphrase R&B the radio DJs “If you haven’t seen it you have a hole in your soul.”