Over the course of six weekends in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of the site of the Woodstock Festival, the Harlem Cultural Festival, with such stars as Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, B.B. King, and Gladys Knight & the Pips, was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten. A new feature-length documentary about the concerts, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), was released on July 2, 2021, in theaters and Hulu, from first-time director, Ahmir Thompson, better known as “Questlove.” Watch the spectacular official trailer from Searchlight Pictures below.

The film’s official soundtrack is finally being released by Sony Legacy on CD on Jan. 28, 2022, with 17 live renditions curated by Questlove of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin, and soul classics performed over the course of the festival as chronicled by the film. Sly & the Family Stone’s performance of “Sing A Simple Song” was released on Dec. 9, the day of the album’s announcement. (A vinyl version will be available later in the year.) Listen to the “simple song” and see the complete track listing below.

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