On January 12, 1963 Sam Cooke recorded what is regarded as one of the greatest ever live soul performances at Harlem Square Club. It was memorialized in “Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963
Tracks:
Feel It
Chain Gang
Cupid
Medley: It’s All Right/For Sentimental Reasons
Twistin’ the Night Away
Somebody Have Mercy
Bring It On Home to Me
Nothing Can Change This Love
Having a Party
Personnel:
Sam Cooke – vocals
Clifton White – guitar
Cornell Dupree – guitar
Jimmy Lewis – bass guitar
Albert “June” Gardner – drums
George Stubbs – piano
King Curtis – saxophone
Tate Houston – saxophone
Sam Cooke Studio Discography
1958 – Songs by Sam Cooke
1958 – Encore
1959 – Tribute to the Lady
1960 – The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke
1960 – Cooke’s Tour
1960 – Hits of the 50’s
1961 – Swing Low
1961 – My Kind of Blues
1962 – Twistin’ the Night Away
1963 – Mr. Soul
1963 – Night Beat
1964 – Ain’t That Good News
Harlem Square Club
NW 2nd Ave & NW 10th Street
Miami, FL 33136
This album is monumental in the Sam Cooke legacy because it showed mainstream America a side of Sam only his core audience had known. RCA themselves didn’t recognize the value of this live performance. They didn’t release “Live at the Harlem Square Club” until 1985–some 22 years after it had been recorded.
Erik Greene
Author, “Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story From His Family’s Perspective”
Thanks for the map — just heard NPR story on the album (1/12/12 – Scott Simon interview) and wanted to see where club had been. Just was in Miami and was around there, but didn’t know of the club at the time.