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Summer of Soul on Hulu


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13 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Bring Kleenex.  I had tears in my eyes at many points.  

Me too.  It's incredibly moving, the best film I've seen in a LONG time.

As I mentioned in another thread, see it in a theater if possible.  It's only in limited release for a brief time -- but it's worth seeing on the big screen if you can!

 

Edited by HutchFan
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2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Me too.  It's incredibly moving, the best film I've seen in a LONG time.

As I mentioned in another thread, see it in a theater if possible.  It's only in limited release for a brief time -- but it's worth seeing on the big screen if you can!

I`m jealous .....

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8 minutes ago, JSngry said:

They are. Max, and then with Abbey.

They are accompanied by the festival house band, none of whom I immediately recognized, although the tenor player looked very familiar.

Aha, interesting. I’d seen that Max and Abbey were both listed on the bill — not of the movie, but of the festival. And I too was hugely curious who was in his band (hoping perhaps Charles Tolliver).

Can anyone scare up any pics or individual still-frames from the new doc — so we can all take a crack at ID-ing the mystery tenor player?

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If there are to be "collector" editions of full sets come available...

The film "as is" is a national treasure. If you would have told me that I would be able to see Mavis Staples share a microphone with Mahalia Jackson in front of a massive outdoor crowd in Harlem...I would not have believed you.

This is the real deal.

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1 hour ago, JSngry said:

If you would have told me that I would be able to see Mavis Staples share a microphone with Mahalia Jackson in front of a massive outdoor crowd in Harlem...I would not have believed you.

This is the real deal.

And not only that it happened -- but also the WAY that it happened! 

As Mavis describes it in the film, Mahalia was out of gas and asked Mavis to step in, take the lead.  So Mavis does her thing, singing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."  And what Mavis does is AMAZING.  And then Mahalia is so inspired by what she's hearing from Mavis that she has to sing too.  And then she takes it even HIGHER.  And then they're both singing it TOGETHER. 

I've never seen anything like it.  It was so much more than just music.  But it was also as powerful and beautiful as music can possibly be.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was bawlin' my eyes out.

 

13 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

Sonny Sharrock, Herbie Mann, Nina Simone, Mongo Santamaria too.

And Ray Barretto!

And B.B. King, who is on FIRE!

 

 

Edited by HutchFan
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15 minutes ago, HutchFan said:

And not only that it happened -- but also the WAY that it happened! 

As Mavis describes it in the film, Mahalia was out of gas and asked Mavis to step in, take the lead.  So Mavis does her thing, singing "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."  And what Mavis does is AMAZING.  And then Mahalia is so inspired by what she's hearing from Mavis that she has to sing too.  And then she takes it even HIGHER.  And then they're both singing it TOGETHER. 

I've never seen anything like it.  It was so much more than just music.  But it was also as powerful and beautiful as music can possibly be.

Well said. I had the same impression. That segment was the highlight of the documentary for me.

I did have one (small) gripe — they spliced up and voiced over Sonny Sharrock's solo! I wanted to hear it start to finish ... unedited! It looked amazing, but you could only hear snippets.

Questlove gets my highest respect. 

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Can't wait for the DVD box set with all the raw footage. I mean, I would hope something like that comes to be.

Was the tenor player with Mongo Hadley Caliman? I know he was in Mongo's band during this era. Whoever is playing the tenor solo on "Watermelon Man," it's a good one!

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Last Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer published a good interview with Questlove about this.  So strange that it has been so neglected, given all the attention WattStax garnered a couple of years later.  But of course Stax got the soundtrack to that released which I guess makes all the difference.

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Many thanks to the above-thread contributors who convinced me to get into my local theater for 'Summer of Soul'.  it was the first actual movie I'd seen since '1917' and the experience was well worth the trip.  By itself, the duo of Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples was, as HutchFan said, "as powerful and beautiful as music can possibly be".  

'SoS' went far beyond any previous festival or concert films, as it had actual participants reflect on the 1969 concerts.  In addition, there were several documentary drop-ins of prior political and social events of the 60's to provide context.  As an Athens resident, I cannot overlook the commentary of journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault describing her breaking the color barrier in 1960 to attend the University of Georgia.  Indeed, such were the times and it's to the credit of 'SoS' for the many reminders.        

 

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