Harry Belafonte – Belafonte At Carnegie Hall - The Complete Concert

My dad loved Harry Belafonte. By extension as a kid and to this day I love Harry Belafonte. He always seemed to be a guest on the variety shows, and there was always something serious and also whimsical about Harry Belafonte's songs. He could be funny and endearing but he was also serious and was an activist for civil rights. All of this was of course alien to me. All I knew was here was a man who knew hold an audience in the palm of his hand and was a master at his craft.

In the early '80s I discovered that one of my best friends Tony also loved Harry Belafonte, and his favourite song was "Matilda" which to me was fantastic. We would sing the song in our loudest voices, and it didn't really matter that we both loved rock and roll ... there was still room for Harry.

There was always room for Harry.

The records my father had I took many years ago, and then subsequently lost to water damage. Still bugs me that I didn't put those bloody boxes up off the concrete in the crawl space. Sigh. My favourite was Henry Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall. It was awesome. When I found this copy of Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, I snapped it up. I couldn't believe it was in the dollar section. Dang, the album was still in the original shrink wrap. The records looked good, not perfect but that didn't matter ... okay, it mattered but they looked pretty good. Turns out after a bath and dry there were a few pops and clicks but not so many as to be distracting.

Kids today will never know the excitement of having a stack of records on a spindle that would drop one at a time. My parent's big French Provincial Electrohome console stereo could handle a stack of a half dozen of more records. Why mention this? Because record players no longer do that ... people finally figured out it was terrible thing to do to a record. However, for many many years if you got a double album more often than not the sides were labelled to be played one record after another.

The Carnegie Hall concert goes side one, side four and the second record is side two and three. Which means that when you can only play one record at a time you have to make and effort to play it in sequence. Something I've done only a few times as I'm generally pretty lazy.

For a live recording back in 1959 this was a pretty fantastic technical achievement. Something you just take for granted when you listen to a live record. In side the gate fold producer Bob Bollard provided a short essay outlining how the concerts from April 19 and 20, 1959 were captured. This was an actual live recording, any warts or blemishes were captured for posterity. It's a master class in how to enrapture an audience. 

The concert is presented in three acts

• Act I - Moods of the American Negro
• Act II - In the Caribbean
• Act III - Round the World

Harry Belafonte would navigate each Act and seamlessly transition between the portions of the program. At times he would interact with the audience and provide some humorous anecdotes. I have favourite moments of course, but I love to hear the songs in the context of the performance.

I'd be remiss of course if I didn't mention that when almost thirty years later "Day O" appeared in Beetlejuice (1988) it would serve to introduce Harry Belafonte to a new generation, which was almost thirty years ago now. My goodness. Hopefully people looked deeper than the novelty of the song and found the performer. Of course I say this, but secretly in my heart I get the biggest kick out of the version of "Matilda" presented here.

I am still amazed at the ground covered over the span of the two records, from the spirituals and standards, to the comedic ("Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" still kills me) Harry gives himself totally to the performances and even pairs "Hava Nageela" and "Danny Boy" as if there was nothing separating them. 

This truly is a magnificent performance (there were two nights) that was captured for posterity. Times may have changed as have tastes, but honestly there is a timelessness to the songs that have become woven into our cultural tapestry. Thanks in no small part to Mister Belafonte. Don't be too quick to dismiss this as an artifact to a bygone era.

If you allow yourself the time you be surprised.