Wax Poetics Volume 2 Issue 8: It Happened In Harlem pp. 60-75
More than fifty years after it was held, the Harlem Cultural Festival has become internationally famous. After decades in a basement, video from Tony Lawrence’s 1969 summer concert series finally saw the light in Questlove’s Academy Award-winning 2021 documentary, Summer of Soul.
Lawrence held two earlier iterations of the festival, including one in 1968 that had also been recorded. The tapes, featuring performances from Herbie Mann, Roy Ayers, Count Basie, and Mahalia Jackson, were thought lost, but have recently resurfaced to the surprise of Lawrence’s family, friends, and colleagues.
The story behind these events, and their enigmatic creator, can now be told for the first time.
Featuring new interviews with Tony Lawrence’s friends and colleagues, and for the first time Lawrence’s family. This article details the creation of the Harlem Cultural Festival and the 1968 television specials that were broadcast on New York’s WNEW-TV.
Alongside the article are several photographs and ephemera relating to the 1968 festival, as well as scans of Tony Lawrence’s music releases from the authors own collection.
Wax Poetics Volume 2 Issue 8 is available to purchase on the Wax Poetics website. It features DJ Koco on the cover.