Paul Robeson's Transatlantic Concert

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1957

Label: Topic Records

Side 1 performed live at a non-disclosed New York location and transmitted via transatlantic telephone cable -- the first time this was ever done successfully -- to an audience in St. Pancras Hall, London, on 26th May 1957.

Side 2 tracks are unrelated studio recordings.

Paul Robeson's piano accompanist for this concert was Harriet Wingreen -- credited as "Winifred Harrison" in the liner notes. She used this alias to shield herself, her husband Michael Stillman, and Monitor Records (her husband's record company) from possible retaliation from the United States government for helping Paul Robeson circumvent the State Department's attempt to prevent him from performing abroad by confiscating his passport.

In December 2020, acetates of the concert recorded at the secret New York location came to light.