SUMMER OF SOUL GETS A SONY SOUNDTRACK

Audio of the fabulous performances by Sly & The Family Stone, Nina Simone, The Staple Singers and, yes, The 5th Dimension seen in Summer of Soul will be released 1/28 on Sony’s Legacy Recordings.

The soundtrack to Questlove’s directorial debut, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), will be available as a 16-track CD or 17-track digital album. A vinyl LP configuration will be released next year. Sly & The Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song” debuts today.

Questlove selected the 17 songs, recorded during the Harlem Cultural Festival in the summer of 1969.

Said film producers Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein of Mass Distraction Media, "The gospel, blues, R&B, soul, Latin and jazz classics on this record have stood the test of time. We hope these live performances from these legendary artists, captured at a key moment during our country’s ongoing struggle for civil rights equality, can bring joy to everyone like it did to the Harlem community over 50 years ago."

Summer of Soul won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, received six honors at the Critics Choice Awards, including Best Documentary Feature, and was named Best Documentary Award by the National Board of Review. It’s up for the Best Music Film Grammy and, we expect, will be in contention for an Oscar by the time the soundtrack is released.