Dream boogie: the triumph of Sam Cooke (128 page)

Sam Cooke at the Copa
(ABKCO 99702) is a portrait of a moment in time, and while Sam’s supperclub act has never been the side that most appealed to me, with its new, vastly improved sound, this 2003 CD reissue suggests some of the rhythmic drive that accompanied even Sam’s most innocuous, crowd-pleasing music. This was certainly the first time that I was ever able to hear the churning interaction between Clif White’s and Bobby Womack’s guitars, and, if nothing else, the album offers not just a snapshot of Sam’s well-thought-out approach to a new audience and a new phase of his career but a rare opportunity to catch a set by his working band.

I’ve got to admit to some conflict of interest here. I wrote the liner notes for each of the last three albums, as I did for
Sam Cooke’s SAR Records Story
(ABKCO 2231), the incomparable two-CD (one pop, one gospel) document of Sam and J.W. Alexander’s record label, which incorporates demos by Sam and some of the Valentinos’, the Sims Twins’, Johnnie Taylor’s, Johnnie Morisette’s, and L.C. Cooke’s best secular work, along with a full CD by the Soul Stirrers, R.H. Harris and the Gospel Paraders, and the Womack Brothers. An added bonus is having the chance to listen to Sam produce some of the sessions as he prods singers and musicians with precise, enthusiastic, and infectious direction.

Two other essential albums have recently been rereleased by Sony/BMG with the same kind of improved sound as Sam’s three ABKCO releases.
Night Beat
(RCA/Sony BMG Legacy 828 766 9551), remastered once again at Bob Ludwig’s Gateway studio, is the beautifully realized late-night blues album that Sam conceived of as a tribute to Charles Brown.
Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club
,
1963
(RCA/Sony BMG Legacy 828 766 9552) is almost the exact opposite, except in the careful calibration of its effects. Completely remixed and remastered, it is raw, high-energy music punctuated by Sam’s hoarse imprecations, King Curtis’ saxophone, and the audience’s uninhibited response. It is very much of a secular follow-up, a
worthy
follow-up, to Sam’s contributions to
The Great 1955 Shrine Concert
and offers a unique glimpse of the every-night-of-the-week good times and good feeling of his show. And yes, I wrote the liner notes for both, the first in 1984.

Without getting into all the great gospel and r&b that preceded, accompanied, and followed Sam throughout his career, let me at least recommend the five-CD
Specialty Story
(Specialty 4412), which provides a slice of the r&b revolution that directly precipitated Sam into pop, with great tracks by Percy Mayfield, Lloyd Price, Guitar Slim, and Little Richard, among many others, along with a smattering of gospel and a genuine sense of the aesthetic that Art Rupe developed over a glorious ten-year run.

Anyone interested in
seeing
Sam in action should pick up the DVD
Sam Cooke Legend
(ABKCO 1004). Again, I’ve got to admit to a conflict of interest because of my involvement in the project, but it includes wonderful performance footage, from Sam’s first, truncated appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show
in 1957 to his September 1964
Shindig!
booking, that historic moment when Cassius Clay called Sam into the ring, and a rare interview-and-song segment by Sam and Muhammad Ali, as well as extras that feature interview material by Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Lou Rawls, and L.C. Cooke, among others.

There are so many other related albums and documentaries that I could recommend (including the indispensable civil rights documentary
Eyes on the Prize
and the BBC‘s
Too Close to Heaven: The Story of Gospel Music
), but I think I’ll leave it there.

My one hope is to someday be able to put together an album that I conceive of as
The Unknown Sam Cooke
. This would include the one extant track from his original August 1956 pop session (with just a rehearsal pianist for accompaniment), several unissued tracks from his December 1956 session in New Orleans that I think far surpass the issued ones, early (1959) demos of his own songs for Kags, and some of the wonderfully loose, unissued cuts that Sam recorded at various SAR sessions over the years.

But that will have to wait for another day. For now there is plenty to listen to!

Acknowledgments

IN WRITING A BOOK
over so long a period, and in thinking about it even longer, one incurs debts that one can never repay. Literally hundreds of people have helped me with my research and my interviews, and I thank them all. The following are just some of the people who gave me a hand over the weeks, months, and years:

Lynn Abbott, Ace Records, Lou Adler, Dick Alen, J.W. Alexander, Wynne Alexander, Hoss Allen, Herb Alpert, Andy Ambrose, Wally Amos, Angel, Don Arden, Mark Arevalo, Larry Auerbach, Bill Austin, Chuck Badie, Pat Baird, Hank Ballard, Todd R. Baptista, Jeff Barry, Harold Battiste, Howell Begle, William Bell, Bill Belmont, Ray Benson, Cornelia Lee Berry, Scott Billington, Bar Biszick, Keith and Pam Bolling, Julian Bond, Ed Boyer, Taylor Branch, Jerry Brandt, Robin Bratter, Doug Brinkley, Lonnie Brooks, John Broven, Diane Brown, Gatemouth Brown, Del Bryant, Solomon Burke, Rev. Jimmy “Early” Byrd, Trevor Cajiao, Dwight Cameron, Louis Cantor, Paul Cantor, Gary Cape, Elston Carr, Howard Carroll, Mel Carter, Ray Charles, Dick Clark, Jack Clement, Bob Cochran, Nadine Cohodas, Jim Cole, Ray Coleman, Rick Coleman, Alisa Coleman-Ritz, Stuart Colman, Agnes Cook-Hoskins and her husband, Joe, Rev. Charles Cook, Charles Cook Jr., David Cook, Hattie Cook-Woods, Barbara Campbell Cooke, L.C. Cooke and his wife, Rev. Marjorie, Linda Cooke, Dan Cooper, Peter Cooper, Creadell Copeland, Lee Cotten, Tommy Couch, Don Covay, Luigi Creatore, Barbara Crissman, LeRoy Crume, Chick Crumpacker, B.B. Davis, Billy Davis, Jim Dawson, Paul DeBarros, Francesco De Leonardis, Walter DeVennes, Joan Dew, Mitch Diamond, Scott Dirks, Rex Doan, Tony Douglas, Charles Driebe, Don Drowty, Cornell Dupree, Ronny Elliott, Ahmet Ertegun, Colin Escott, Simon Evans (Man in Japan Collection), Phil Everly, Ernie Farrell, Luciano Federighi, Art Fein, Dennis Ferrante, Johnny Fields, Bill Flanagan, Bruce Flett, Clarence Fountain, Kim Fowley, Art Foxall, Carol Fran, Aretha Franklin, Jeff Frederick, Jim Fricke, Gil Friesen, Ray Funk, Grady Gaines, Ceil Gallagher, June Gardner, Galen Gart, Gregg Geller, Larry Geller, Peter Gibbon, Lex Gillespie, Jeff Gold, Robert Gordon, Gorgeous George, Michael Gray, Milton Grayson, Pete Grendysa, Guitar Shorty, Jenessa Gursky, Taylor Hackford, Mark Hagen, Dawn Haggerty, Roy and Maria Hamilton Jr., Rosemary Hanes, Jet Harris, R.H. Harris, Tony Harris, Wil Haygood, Tony Heilbut, Lee Hildebrand, Dave Hoekstra, Harvey Holiday, Pete Howard, Peter J. Howard, Bones Howe, Dick “Huggy Boy” Hugg, Cilla Huggins, Buzzy Jackson, Chuck Jackson, John Jackson, Jim Jaworowicz, Mable John, Jimmy Johnson, Plas Johnson, Ray Johnson, Jeff Jones, Marvin Jones, Peter Jones, Ernst Jorgensen, Chuck Kaplan, David Kapralik, Clark Kauffman, Ernie K-Doe, Bob Keane, Emily Kelley, Dred Scott Keyes, Johnny Keyes, Marc Kidel, Merle Kilgore, Carolyn Brown Killen, B.B. King, Earl King, Edith King, George Klein, Robin Klein, Jurgen Koop, Glenn Korman, Howard Kramer, Eric Kuhlberg, David Kunian, Art Laboe, Teri Landi, Joe Lauro, Eric LeBlanc, Beverly Lee, Dickey Lee, Alan Leeds, Malcolm Leo, Colin Levert, Andria Lisle, Leon Litwack, Beverly Campbell Lopez, Kip Lornell, Lotsa Poppa (Julius High), Michael Lydon, Magnificent Montague, Waldo Martin, Cosimo Matassa, Phyllis McClure, John McDermott, Joe McEwen, Charlie McGovern, Earl McGrath, Larry McKinley, Ricky McKinnie, Jonny Meadow, Bill Millar, Rev. Dwight “Gatemouth” Moore, Idris Muhammad, Flo Murdock, Opal Louis Nations, Ford Nelson, Chris Nichols, Gene Norman, Michael Ochs, Andrew Loog Oldham, Horace Ott, Earl Palmer, Mick Patrick, Norma Jean Patton, Al Pavlow, Ian Pickstock, Randy Poe, Lee Poole, Steve Popovich, David Porter, David Potorti, Lloyd Price, Lithofayne Pridgon, Steve Propes, Betty and Beverly Prudhomme, Mark Pucci, Jess Rand, Bill Randle, Lou Rawls, Rodgers Redding, John Richbourg, John Ridley, Ginger Rieder, Bob Riesman, Shelley Ritter, David Ritz, Don Robertson, Bobby Robinson, Roscoe Robinson, Jackie Ross, Tony Rounce, Art Rupe, Jayne Rush, Simon Rutberg, Ken Salinsky, Nick Salvatore, Tony Salvatore, Ben Sandmel, Zelda Sands, David Sanjek, Rob Santos, Vicky Sarro, Jeff Scheftel, Tony Scherman, Al Schmitt, Tim Schuller, Delois Scott, Hammond and Nauman Scott, Zenas Sears, Joel Selvin, Doug Seroff, Val Shively, Dick Shurman, John Siamas Jr., the Simms Twins, Roy Simonds, Bob Simpson, John Simson, Louis Skorecki, Fred Smith, Andrew Solt, Rip Spencer, Joe Sperry, Nick Spitzer, Mavis Staples, Roger Steffens, Wolf Stephenson, Alva Stevenson, Pat Sullivan, Beverly Tatum, Ann Taylor, Dan Taylor, Rico Tee, Rev. Amos Terrell, Hank Thompson, Norman Thrasher, Johnny Thunder, Ray Topping, Allen Toussaint, Ed Townsend and Betsy Buchanan, Gus Treadwell, Sid Trusty, Billy Vera, Essie Wade, Gayle Wald, Phil Walden, Jeff Walker, Kate Walker, JoJo Wallace, Alton and Maggie Warwick, Dionne Warwick, David Washington, Jacquie Gales Webb, Harry Weinger, Steve Weiss, Jerry Wexler, Mary Wharton, Jesse Whitaker, Charles White, Cliff White, Clifton White, Skippy White, Cheri Wild, Tom Wilk, Dave Williams, Greg Williams, Val Wilmer, Ernest Withers, Peter Wolf, Bobby Womack, Cecil Womack, Curtis Womack, Carol Ann Woods, Georgie Woods, Marshall Wyatt, Claudia Wynn, and Jerry Zolten.

I WISH I COULD SINGLE OUT
each person for his or her own individual contributions, but enumerating them all would be impossible, and to choose some over others would be unfair. For me it’s been an ongoing education in the widest variety of subjects, from the early development of gospel music to the passions of poster collecting, from the intricacies of personal memory to the detective work of documentation. I’ve spent so many rewarding hours in the company of so many from whom I’ve learned so much—to all, my heartfelt thanks.

I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t thank the entire Cook family for their many kindnesses, their graciousness and hospitality, their generous sharing of home and memory.

I promised L.C. Cooke a page of his own—and he deserves it. I couldn’t get a page, but this is his paragraph. He was my goodwill ambassador, my co-interviewer, my reliable guide to Chicago past and present, and an ever-cheerful chronicler and social director.

Bobby Womack, too, was an unflagging guide. As with L.C., we have been talking now for a period of twelve or thirteen years, and the conversation doesn’t seem close to ending. Barbara Cooke and I met fairly late in the day, but she made up for lost time with her frankness, candor, unsparing self-honesty, and dedication to uncovering hard truths. And, of course, J.W. Alexander, who first inspired me to want to write the book when we met in 1982, is never far from my thoughts. We maintained a running conversation for fifteen years, and I wish he were still around not just to set me straight on questions I never thought to ask but to go out to lunch with at his favorite El Pollo restaurant. His widow, Carol Ann Woods, and daughter, Adrienne, have helped keep his spirit alive with both encouragement and advice, just as LeRoy Crume, the last of Sam’s group of Soul Stirrers, has volunteered at every opportunity to take me down not just the broad highways but some of the unexplored byways of his friendship with Sam.

Everyone told his or her own story. The stories didn’t always gibe; perspectives naturally differed. But I hope I’ve been able to suggest enough different voices, and a broad enough range of perceptions and responses, to be fair to all the various parties involved.

The book would certainly have been poorer for the absence of any of those voices, but without Allen Klein, I don’t know that I would have been able to write it at all. Allen knew Sam only for the last year and a half of his life, and, like everyone else, he has his own point of view, but in addition to the business records he accumulated in his role as Sam’s manager, he has over the years compiled an unparalleled archive of Sam’s life and career. He provided me with unimpeded and unconditional access to this archive and was unstinting in his efforts to aid in the research without ever seeking to influence it in any way. My thanks to him, to Jody Klein and Iris Keitel, and to the entire ABKCO office for their help, their unfailing good will, and their enthusiasm for the project from start to finish.

Once again Kit Rachlis offered the most scrupulous, perceptive, and noninvasively confrontational editorial advice, and Alexandra Guralnick patiently read, transcribed, debated, and imagined the details of the story every step of the way. As always, thanks to Jake and Connie, Nina and Mike for their incalculable contributions. And thanks once again to Pamela Marshall not just for her cheerfully stringent approach to copyediting but for her occasional willingness to forsake consistency for feel, not to mention her enthusiasm for obscure Latinate debate. Working with Susan Marsh, whose passionate commitment to elegance of form and unswerving dedication to the text have guided the design of every book I have written since 1979, was, as always, an unalloyed pleasure. And I could say much the same about my editor, Michael Pietsch, whose honesty, loyalty, editorial insight, and friendship have served as guideposts for the last thirteen years.

It’s a great team. I hope we can all do it again!

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