In January 1963, energized by a recent tour of Europe with former labelmate Little Richard, Sam Cooke took the stage at the Harlem Square Club in Miami to turn in an electric, electrifying set of sweaty, sanctified, manic and masterful soul music. The night was recorded for a live album called One Night Stand!: Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club which sat on the shelf for twenty years until it was released in 1985. Sony Legacy has remastered the album for a new reissue this year, and it is now obvious that One Night Stand is capable of completely overturning what everybody thinks they know about the inventor of sweet soul music.
Along with Ray Charles, Sam Cooke did arguably invent soul music with his great crossover hits of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Everything that came after owes in some measure to his songwriting, an alchemic blending of gospel, R&B, pop and standards, and his bravura vocal performances that split the difference between agape and eros. In his brand-new and excellent biography of Sam Cooke, Peter Guralnick lovingly details the singer's evolution from a young (and nationally-known) gospel artist to the urbane, good-looking, articulate, laid back and genial pop inferno that he became. Along the way, various personages from Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler to singing peers like Harry Belafonte, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Elvis Presley check in to attest to their admiration for Cooke's unbelievably facile voice.
And what a voice it was! Sam Cooke was blessed with a remarkable instrument, clear as a bell except when he wanted to make it gritty, high and proud and stunningly beautiful. His ability to project stark and affecting emotional content onto the most banal lyrics made him great, and once he figured out how to draw out the simplest words, "No-no-no-no-no-no," "I-i-i-i-i-i," in Coltranesque cascades of pure anguish and joy, nothing could stop him from killing an audience cold.
Live at the Harlem Square Club captures an amazing moment in Sam Cooke's career. Riding high off a nearly unbroken string of chart successes, he was yet to enter the great and terrible eighteen month period which would see his infant son die, see the recording of possibly his finest music, and end in his death. All that was in the future.
When Sam Cooke took the stage at the Harlem Square Club, it was with Little Richard's dirty groove in mind, the future spread out bright before him, and a songbook of pop, standards and what we now call "soul." Imagine the scene: the big room sweating in the humid Florida night. An early and a late show, at 10 PM and 1 AM respectively. Sam Cooke, fresh off his European tour, with rowdy Atlantic recording artist King Curtis on sax beside him and Curtis' band of crack players behind him, energized, inspired, and ready to take the crowd as high as they want to go. The crowd, packed to the rafters, happy and eager. Sam Cooke had come to town, and they were waiting for the party to get started.
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
John Owen, this right here is some good writing. Dare I say, this is one of the better pieces of music writing I've read this millenium.
""Twistin' The Night Away" becomes somehow more serious, like the last party before Judgement Day." Yeah. Maybe it's partly tinged by us knowing his fate fairly soon to come, but now that you mention it he does sound a bit as if he's partying like it's 1999.
Again John, outstanding work.
2 - John Owen
Thanks, Senator!
3 - Eric Berlin
This is great stuff, John -- you really set the scene and then take us there.
4 - Nukapai
Wow, I think I'll just give up trying to write music reviews. ;)
Ehh, what I mean to say: this could have been an article in the newspaper I read (Guardian). Professional, informative, interesting.
5 - Jaime Nichols
VERY nice.