By Darlene Donloe
Questlove’s Summer of Soul has garnered a lot of buzz, especially amongst music enthusiasts – and with good reason.
Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson has unearthed a summer concert, hidden away for more than 50 years, laying dormant in someone's basement depriving the masses of what can only be called a musical masterpiece.
Questlove’s documentary about the 1969 ‘Black Woodstock’ concert part of the Harlem Cultural Festival, whose full title is Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), features never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, TheStaples Singers, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and many more.
It was produced by Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent, and David Dinerstein.
The Sundance Grand Jury and audience award winner is in theaters, but can also be seen on Hulu.
This film was a pure delight, a cultural explosion, an ear-matic delight. Watching the doc infuses a sense of pride at the power, grace, and pure talent that permeated the time. One after the other, Black talented took the stage entertaining by singing their individual hits. And the hits just keep on comin’.
A showstopper is Mahalia Jackson who takes the stage in all her gospel glory. She wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, so she asks Mavis Staples to help her sing, "Precious Lord,' a monumental masterpiece. Both Jackson and Staples brought the fire! It’s such a powerful, moving, and gut-wrenching moment. It truly gives you goosebumps. It becomes an unforgettable moment that is one for the ages.
50 years lost! This documentary stands as a tribute to our time.
Watching it in all its Black wonder conjures a commanding sense of community oneness.
Don’t sleep on this documentary! It’s a winner!
This is pure love!
On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah), and E (excellent), 'Summer of Soul' gets an E (excellent).
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