12/04/2025
The following post combines the press release along with my Producer’s notes for this monumental re-release of Soul To Soul. I am so very excited to share this with you…………….
In 1971, when Soul To Soul was first released, very few movie theaters agreed to screen it and, sadly, this wonderful concert/documentary film soon disappeared. Sometime in the 1980s, it was released on VHS and, for reasons unknown, it was commercially available only for a short time. In 2004, after much work to re-clear all of the artists, and the time, money and effort I spent to release this film on DVD, it failed to resonate with the public once again.
In this business, you take the successes with the failures and try to move on when something you put your heart and soul into doesn’t reach the audience you had wanted. I had always hoped that there would come a time that Soul To Soul could be available yet again on a home video format but in the last 15 years the market for DVD’s and even Blu-ray releases has been minimal so I assumed the chances of anyone wanting to invest the money to put this out were slim.
This all changed in April 2025 when Arny Schorr of Liberation Entertainment reached out to me to see if I would be interested in re-re-releasing Soul To Soul. Arny has been in the music industry for the last few decades and, after speaking with him, I knew his company would be the right home for Soul To Soul and that he understood the importance of this documentary and it’s place in modern American cinematic history.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | December 4, 2025 – Soul to Soul, a vibrant and historically significant 1971 concert film — featuring performances by Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, Wilson Pickett, The Staple Singers, Les McCann & Eddie Harris, and The Voices of East Harlem — will be available again on February 20, ahead of the concert’s 55th anniversary on March 6. Released by Liberation Hall in partnership with Reelin’ In The Years Productions, Soul to Soul will appear for the first time on Blu-ray. Additionally, Soul to Soul: Music from the Original Soundtrack will arrive at retail on vinyl LP, CD & digital on the same date. The film will also be released on DVD.
Watch the Soul to Soul trailer on https://youtu.be/nbZ7qoePQP0
Pre-order Blu-ray & DVD at Amazon: https://a.co/d/aCJ7hgm.
Pre-order LP, CD & digital at Amazon: https://a.co/d/8F6pkOl
In February 1971, several dozen American soul, jazz & gospel artists embarked on a journey to Ghana, West Africa that would change the lives of everyone involved. For the African American artists, this was a journey about personal roots, the ancestral homeland, history, discovery, loss, pain and joy. Soul to Soul documents a one-of-a-kind awe-inspiring festival where black American souls connected with black West African souls through the enduring power of music.
Directed by Academy AwardⓇ winner Denis Sanders and produced by Tom Mosk and Richard Bock, the resulting concert film/documentary had a limited theatrical run in late 1971. In 2004, Reelin’ In The Years Productions President David Peck secured permission for a DVD release from the producer and copyright holder of Soul to Soul. With the help of a clearance specialist, he was able re-clear all the artists seen in the 1971 film.
Now, 20 years later, Soul to Soul will have another chance to connect with audiences via a partnership between Reelin’ In The Years Productions and Liberation Hall. Steve Scoville of Blue H2O Productions restored the original edit by reconstructing each scene using the high quality 2K transfers from the original film elements. The film’s soundtrack has been digitally remastered by Randy Perry.
Above all, Soul to Soul is an electrifying concert film that features its players at the peak of their powers. Over 100,000 Ghanaians attended the celebration of the meeting of the cultures of the two continents. The Ike & Tina Turner R***e, featuring frontwoman Tina furiously shimmying alongside the Ikettes, delivers fiery renditions of “River Deep-Mountain High,” “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” and “I Smell Trouble” which showcases Ike Turner’s incredible guitar playing. Wilson Pickett, “Soul Brother #2” was the most popular American artist known to West Africans at the time, and took the stage at 4:30 AM to deliver a rousing finale of “In the Midnight Hour,” and “Land of 1000 Dances.” Gospel, soul, and R&B family group The Staple Singers were on hand to perform “When Will Be We Paid” and “Are You Sure.” Pianist Les McCann and tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris introduced many members of the African audience to jazz via spirited performances of “The Price You Gotta Pay To Be Free” and “Hey Jorler,” the latter featuring local Ghanaian artist Amoah Azangeo. The Voices of East Harlem, an ensemble featuring young gospel singers, contributed an electrifying version of Richie Havens “Run, Shaker Life.” Santana, only had one African American member but, paradoxically, given its reliance on Afro-Cuban and other Latin American rhythm constructs, played the most African-sounding music (“Black Magic Woman”/”Gypsy Queen,” “Jungle Strut”) of any of the American artists.
The impact of Santana upon the Ghanaian music community was immense because shortly after the festival, most of the local bands experimenting with Afro-beat and Afro-rock were covering Santana songs being called a “Santana man” became a nickname for young people who were “with it.”
Interspersed between these stunning performances, the camera crew followed the American musicians as they visited local villages, met kings, and shared food and dance with the Ghanaian community.
My involvement in the return of this film to the public at large began in 1996 when I tracked down Tom Mosk, who was one of the original producers and the copyright holder to Soul To Soul. It was because of my extensive background in archival music footage and my persistence and assurances to Tom that all of the artists involved would receive compensation for their work, that Tom enthusiastically allowed us to make this film (back in 2004) once again available to the public.
As I began the work on what would become the 2004 DVD release, I noticed some of the contracts signed in 1971 gave the producers all rights in perpetuity, while most of the original artists agreements were not 100% clear as to what rights we had to move forward with. To make sure this was done the right way and to ensure that all of the artists would be compensated and share in future royalties, I hired one of the industry’s best clearance specialists, Cathy Carapella, who began the arduous task of re-clearing the artists in the film. Many times during the clearance process this project was close to being dead in the water due to differing temperaments and egos on the part of the artists and their management. I believed so strongly about the importance of Soul To Soul and what it represented culturally, that I did everything in my power to make that 2004 DVD release a reality. Thankfully, all of the deals negotiated with the artists granted us all rights in perpetuity, so that here in 2025 we can re-release this film without having to re-negotiate new terms.
When you try to re-clear a project the size and scope of Soul To Soul not everything goes exactly as you want, and (unfortunately) one artist would not agree to be part of the re-release. In the original 1971 film, Roberta Flack was seen performing the Donny Hathaway song, “Tryin’ Times.” In an emotionally charged moment, Roberta was also heard singing the traditional song “Freedom” as images of the slave castles are shown. For 200 years the slave castles in Ghana were one of the main points on the western coast of Africa where black Africans were held in brutal conditions before they were forced as slaves onto ships bound for the Americas.
I’ve always felt that the footage of the slave castles is the most important part of the film as it represents what black Americans had come through and how in Soul To Soul artists like Roberta Flack came to pay respect to the horrific struggles that their ancestors had suffered. The thought of losing this sequence was very depressing. I tried everything to convince Roberta to allow us to keep her in the film even if just the sequence of her voice in the slave castles, but she insisted that all audio and visual footage of her was removed and I of course had no choice but to respect her wishes. In order to keep the integrity of what I felt was such an important and powerful scene, I came up with the idea of replacing Roberta Flack with Mavis Staples’ moving observations she had described in her commentary track as to what the slaves went through and how visiting the slave castles affected her. As a producer, I don’t believe in re-writing history but I will say that I prefer Mavis Staples’ painful and stirring words under the moving images of the slave castles to Roberta’s 1971 sequence. I feel Mavis’ voice gives the viewers a profound understanding of what the slave castles were and the horrors that took place inside of those walls.
To give a better context of this momentous event, for the 2004 release I produced four separate commentary tracks containing Mavis Staples (Staple Singers), Michael Shrieve (Santana), Kevin Griffin (The Voices Of East Harlem), Les McCann, Ike Turner, Ghanaian drummer, Obo Addy, and producer, Tom Mosk.
Rob Bowman, conducted all of the commentary tracks (with the exception of Obo Addy & Michael Shrieve) and his incredible knowledge of this event really helped to bring a deeper appreciation and understanding of what Soul To Soul means. As you will hear, each of these 4 commentary tracks spans the emotional range of what the journey to Africa meant for those who lived through it. Since the release of this film in 2004, the only voices still with us from these commentary tracks are those of Mavis, Michael & Kevin.
In 2004, The Grammy Foundation gave us a grant to restore Soul To Soul and at the time Blu-ray as a home video format did not exist and thus the film was scanned to standard definition. For this 2025 release we had the film rescanned to High Definition and this will mark the first time Soul To Soul is available on Blu-ray. To the few people that bought the DVD in 2004 and now own the Blu-ray, you will be very pleased with the upgrade in resolution.
When this film was originally released I was 4 years old and take no credit for its greatness but I am extremely proud of the work that I did to help preserve Soul To Soul for future generations to enjoy and be inspired by.
David Peck
Reelin’ In The Years Productions
BLU-RAY & DVD TRACKLIST:
Wilson Pickett – 1) “In the Midnight Hour,” 2) “Land of 1000 Dances” | Santana – 3) “Jungle Strut,” 4) “Black Magic Woman”/“Gypsy Queen” | Ike & Tina Turner – ) “River Deep-Mountain High,” 6) “Soul to Soul,” 7) “Ooh Poo Pah Doo,” 😎 “I Smell Trouble” | The Staple Singers – 9) “When Will We Be Paid,” 10) “Are You Sure” | Les McCann & Eddie Harris – 11) ”The Price You Gotta Pay to Be Free,” 12) “Hey Jorler” (with Amoah Azangeo) | The Voices of East Harlem – 13) “Run, Shaker Life.”
Blu-Ray bonus features:
* 32-page booklet with expanded liner notes by Rob Bowman
* Outtake performance: Ike & Tina Turner – “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”
* Four separate commentary tracks:
1) Mavis Staples (The Staple Singers)
2) Les McCann with Kevin Griffin (The Voices of East Harlem)
3) Producer Tom Mosk with reissue producer David Peck of Reelin’ In The Years Productions
4) Ike Turner, Michael Shrieve (Santana), Obo Addy (Ghanaian drummer), Kevin Griffin and Les McCann.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Soul to Soul: Music from the Original Soundtrack
CD & DIGITAL TRACKLIST (LIB-2192)
Ike & Tina Turner – 1) “Soul to Soul,” 2) “River Deep-Mountain High,” 3) “I Smell Trouble” | The Voices of East Harlem – 4) “Run, Shaker Life,” 5) “Choose Your Seat and Set Down”/”Walk All Over God’s Heaven” | Les McCann & Eddie Harris – 6) ”The Price You Gotta Pay To Be Free” | The Staple Singers – 7) “When Will We Be Paid,” 😎 “Are You Sure” | 9. “He’s Alright” | Santana – 10) “Jungle Strut,” 11) “Black Magic Woman”/“Gypsy Queen” | Wilson Pickett – 12) “In the Midnight Hour,” 13) “Funky Broadway,” 14) “Land Of 1000 Dances”
LP TRACKLIST (LIB-2191):
Due to space limitations, the LP features 10 tracks.
SIDE A:
Ike & Tina Turner – 1) “Soul to Soul,” 2) “River Deep-Mountain High” | The Voices of East Harlem – 3) “Run Shaker Life” | The Staple Singers – 4) “When Will We Be Paid,” 5) “Are You Sure,” 6) “He’s Alright”
SIDE B:
Santana – 1) “Black Magic Woman”/”Gypsy Woman” | Wilson Pickett – 2) “In the Midnight Hour,” 3) “Funky Broadway,” 4) “Land Of 1000 Dances.”
ABOUT REELIN’ IN THE YEARS PRODUCTIONS:
For nearly 30 years, Reelin’ In The Years Productions has been considered one of the major go-to sources for licensing of archival footage of musical artists, entertainers, and history makers. Their archive houses over 30,000 hours of performances from all genres of music covering the last 100 years, as well as 10,000 hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports.
David Peck, President of Reelin’ In The Years Productions, has produced and directed over 70 music documentaries and specials on the giants of jazz, blues and rock & roll, garnering many awards, including a Grammy Nomination. In 2020, he was one of the Executive Producers on HBO’s critically acclaimed documentary on the Bee Gees, “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” and served as one of the Co-Executive Producers on a multi-part documentary series on the famed record Memphis record label, STAX: Soulsville USA which was nominated for an Emmy and won a Peabody award in May 2025. Along with these films David Peck also served as Executive Producer on The Makings Of Curtis Mayfield a film produced by Peter Afterman and directed by Oscar and Grammy award winning artist, H.E.R. (Gabriella Wilson.)
