The Styrous® Viewfinder: 101 Reel-To-Reel Tapes 26: Harry Belafonte ~ At the Greek Theater

November 18, 2013

101 Reel-To-Reel Tapes 26: Harry Belafonte ~ At the Greek Theater

Harry Belafonte ~ At the Greek Theater

reel-to-reel tape album

cover photo by Jay Maisel

photo of album cover by Styrous®

In addition to my vinyl collection I'm selling, I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes I'm selling. This is an entry about one of them, Harry Belafonte ~ At the Greek Theater. I have the vinyl LP version as well. Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

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This is the recording of the Harry Belafonte concert at the Hearst Greek Theater in Berkeley, California, USA, on August 23, 1963. The Greek is the very best place in the San Francisco Bay Area for concert venues. The sound is impeccable, no matter where you sit. The feeling is intimate, although, it seats (uncomfortably, sitting is not exactly the beat feature of the site, you MUST bring a pillow to put on the cement step on which you sit) thousands. I have enjoyed many concerts of various types from rock (see: Paul Simon at the Greek) to opera; each time I have never regretted the experience.

Harry Belafonte began as a club singer in New York to pay for his acting classes. He made his debut at the jazz club The Village Vanguard in the heart of Greenwich Village, and was backed by the Charlie Parker band, which included Charlie Parker, Max Roach and Miles Davis. Now, that's what I call an impressive beginning!

His first widely-released single, which went on to become his "signature" song, Matilda, recorded on April 27, 1953, usually involved audience participation in his live performances with the lyrics, "Hey! Ma-til-da; Ma-til-da; Ma-til-da, she take me money and run a-Venezuela!" The song was first recorded by calypso pioneer King Radio (the stage name of Norman Span).

There is a 1979 video of a beautiful duet with Nana Mouskouri (she singing in French, he in English) of Try To Remember on YouTube (link below).

Belafonte was dubbed the "King of Calypso" (although, the title has also been given to Slinger Francisco aka Mighty Sparrow) for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. The The Banana Boat Song, recorded in 1956, is famous for its refrain of, "Day-O".

Near the bottom of this post there are links to Belafonte songs on YouTube that you can hear for yourself, if you'd like.