It’s just a chair. Sitting, silently in the front room.
A legacy passed on to me from Harold through Vera’s people at Community Book Store, where it was deposited in storage until I got around to picking it up.
Soul legend Sam Cooke is the subject of the latest film in Netflix’s ReMastered documentary series. Streaming on Netflix from 8 February, The Two Killings Of Sam Cooke, probes the star’s sad. The Two Killings of Sam Cooke, which premiered on Feb. 8, questions whether the late singer’s “outspoken views on civil rights may have contributed to his death.” Cooke was killed at a seedy. ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke. 2019 TV-MA 1h 14m Music. While Sam Cooke rose to stardom as a soul singer, his outspoken views on civil rights drew attention that may have contributed to his death at age 33. Starring: Sam Cooke.
Harold Battiste. Born October 28, 1931. Died June 19, 2015. After producing a handful of regional hits, Harold left New Orleans and landed on the west coast and eventually became the musical director for Sonny and Cher, including their onstage appearances and their nationally televised program. Harold was also the producer of early releases by Lee Dorsey and Dr. John. I knew of Harold because of “New Orleans Heritage – Jazz: 1956-1966,” a 1976, 3-Lp box set of New Orleans music he had produced.
On one of his visits to his home town, Harold and I hooked up for dinner. That meal initiated a thirty-plus-year relationship, which intensified shortly thereafter when Harold returned home for good. In a local publication, Offbeat Magazine, I wrote about our friendship. The essay contained the line “Buddha and son,” referring to Harold and me.
My elder son Mtume and I were visiting Harold one day and the topic of Sam Cooke came up. I already knew that Harold and Sam had been close. Had already heard the story of how Harold helped Sam by anonymously arranging Sam’s first major R&B hit, “You Send Me”—subtly suggesting Sam didn’t need to repeat ‘you send me’ over and over. Perhaps use ‘you thrill me’ for one verse, and some other words.
That 1957 session had been almost a throwaway that Harold did as a favor for legendary producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell. Harold was uncredited for that work. He said back then ghost arranging was no big thing. The record companies, the A&R people, and the musicians didn’t give it a second thought. Harold got the gig because he could arrange for voices. Bumps had hired a choir but at the end of the planned portion of the session there was no music for the choir to sing on this new song that Sam had. And, well they had some spare studio time, why not give it a shot.
Harold had told me many other stories. Indeed, I was a close reader helping Harold finalize his 2010 book, “Unfinished Blues…Memories of a New Orleans Music Man”. We worked on a follow-up book. That manuscript was completed but never published.
Two Killings Of Sam Cooke Documentary
Although Harold was full of surprises and observations, he was unusually reticent and self-deprecating. On one occasion, I told Harold how much I admired Sam Cooke’s signature song, “A Change Is Going To Come.” In an off-handed manner, Harold informed me he played piano on that track. I knew Harold tickled the ivories but, even though there was a piano in the front room of Harold’s apartment, I mainly heard Harold blowing dulcet tones on his alto saxophone, which invariably was Harold’s instrument of choice when he played in the New Orleans nightclubs.
Harold’s relationship with Sam Cooke was as a musical collaborator and close friend. I knew of Sam Cooke because of his recordings, and later because of the videos on YouTube. When I saw the Netflix special that focused on Sam as a serious artist, I recalled that Harold had wondered why Sam, of velvet voice and matinee-idol handsomeness, had a penchant for some off-kilter tastes in people and situations. I, of course, had no response nor any conjectures about Sam’s idiosyncrasies, nor about Sam’s untimely and grisly murder. I simply believed that everybody has a skeleton in their personal closet, a side of themselves that is seldom revealed. The more popular one becomes, the more difficult it is to contain or restrain non-conventional behaviors.
Typically, when going by Harold, I would sit in the well-worn, red leather chair next to Harold’s desk but this time because I had my son with me, I motioned with my head for Mtume to sit. A little later while we were talking for over an hour dissecting, opining and shouting out our favorite Sam Cooke memories, Mtume said something about Sam Cooke’s perceptiveness. Harold in his soft voice, quietly dropped a bomb on the young man. “You’re sitting in Sam’s chair.”
The Two Killings Of Sam Cooke Review
Later, Mtume told me he had nearly jumped out of the chair when Harold said that. So many memories, so much meaning was literally beneath Mtume’s butt.
Sometimes a chair is not just a chair.
–Kalamu ya Salaam
24 February 2019
Legendary singer Sam Cooke died in 1964 under circumstances shrouded in mystery. “The Two Killings of Sam Cooke”gives us a look at his life, who he was, what he stood for, and the unanswered questions surrounding his untimely death. Sam was a passionate, loving, gifted, revolutionary, and complicated man. As people fighting the struggle for freedom and equality in America while just trying to live, Sam was, in some sense, all of us.
The Pioneer
Sam Cooke’s story was nearly lost to history and that’s why this documentary is important. Younger generations know the song “A Change is Gonna Come” but they don’t know the man, Sam Cooke. He was a pioneer. In the documentary, Smokey Robinson credits Cooke for Black artists wearing afros. Cooke saw it as a sign of our history and culture. He also saw it as a reminder that we are beautiful. At a time where there are laws being created to prevent discrimination against our hair, this is a timely message we need to hear.
Sam Cooke was also a pioneer in the music industry. He was the first Black person to start a record label. He wanted to create opportunities that were not available to his fellow Black artists and give them a shot at their dreams without being cheated by the major labels.
Sam had the vision of what the music industry could look like for people like him to own their music and distribution, to be their own master. He paved the way for the many artists who eventually started labels and fought to own the copyrights to their music. There are many who believe that this spirit of freedom is what got him killed.
The Revolutionary
Throughout the documentary, you recognize that this very spirit was at the core of who Cooke was. He was great friends with some of the biggest Black revolutionaries of the time: Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Jim Brown. These four men shared ideas, politics, hopes, and dreams with one another. Although it was released posthumously, I believe you can see the effect of that friendship in his classic, “A Change is Gonna Come.”Upon initial release, the record label deleted the second verse because they found it to be too political and were unsure of how it would go over with white audiences.
Arguably his biggest revolutionary act was the picture he gave us of Black male freedom in his friendship with Muhammad Ali. There’s a scene in the documentary where the two of them are singing and the look of joy and happiness in their eyes is one that can only be shared with true friends. The joy and laughter they brought out of each other was something seldom seen among Black men in public spaces. At a time when the majority of images of Black men were negative (still true), their friendship gave us a different view of Black manhood. Instead of being seen as buffoons, beasts, and the butt of jokes, these were intellectual, joyful, and genuinely loving men. This is an image we needed to see more of back
Walking the Line
Cooke was a complicated Black man in a complicated world. Jim Brown put it this way: “If you were a popular celebrity with crossover value, you did have the pressure of were you going to be careful, or were you going to be truthful and real?” Cooke often chose the latter.
He would play some of the biggest and best venues in front of huge white audiences but never left Black people behind. Often times in his fight for equality, Cooke would refuse to play in segregated venues. A move like this didn’t just put his career in jeopardy but also his life. It is believed that Sam Cooke was asking himself the question many of us find ourselves asking now: how can I be my authentic Black self? For him, it couldn’t stop at making music; he had to be in the movement for freedom. People speculate that this was another cause of his death.
Two Killings Of Sam Cooke Rotten Tomatoes
A Mysterious Ending
Sam Cooke died under strange circumstances that are unsettling and have not been properly investigated to this very day. There are many people who felt he was a Black man getting too powerful and needed to be stopped. On a December night in 1964, he was gunned down at a motel. There is a story of the death given in the documentary but none of the people closest to Cooke believe it to be true.
We don’t know if the truth will ever come out. The years 1963-1968 saw some important figures in the movement for Black freedom taken away: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, and Martin Luther King Jr. Right in there is Sam Cooke. He was more than just a talented singer and musical icon. He was a hero to Black people.
Two Killings Of Sam Cooke Review
CJ is a Brooklyn native and loves his city more than Drake loves Toronto. He has an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Western Seminary. He longs to see the gospel shine in his city, in Brooklyn as it is in heaven. He is a husband, father, writer, speaker, urban missionary, and avid hoops fan. You can follow him on all the socials @CJ_Quartlbaum