Description
The Keen Records albums represent Sam Cookersquos early body of work as a secular artist after a glorious sixyear run fronting the Soul Stirrers. His voice had become the dominant force in the gospel sales prior to the release of ldquoYou Send Merdquo and lsquoSummertime.rdquo He was destined to become a major force in pop just as he had been in gospel.While this newly remastered collection includes standards and hits that had been associated with artists who came before Sam Cooke, Samrsquos fresh approach made the repertoire his own and helped shape his own songwriting skills in a very tangible way.Within this period, Sam Cooke defined himself as a voice ahead of his time. His debutnbspalbum,nbspSam Cooke, also known asnbspSongs by Sam Cooke, was released in 1958,nbspEncorenbspfollowed quickly. It was absent any Sam Cooke originals and the cover depicted Sam swinging with jazz musicians behind him, an honest depiction of what was in the grooves of the LP within.Cookersquos 1959 albumnbspTribute to thenbspLadynbspis just that, a tribute to Billie Holiday, aka lsquoLady Day.rsquo Recorded entirely in stereo, Sam Cooke masterfully reimagines Holidayrsquos catalog as his own.nbspHit Kit, also released in 1959, is a collection of his hits from this period, most of which were originals.The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke, includes a timeless hit recording of What A Wonderful Worldnbspfrom his last session for Keen.