November 29, 2024 • 21 mins
ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – An in-depth conversation with acclaimed music writer A. Scott Galloway, who joins the program to preview legendary Jazz vocal gymnast Al Jarreau’s posthumous live recording, newly titled ‘WOW! live at the Childe Harold’; featuring 5 songs never included before on a live Jarreau recording, interviews with longtime Jarreau collaborators and more - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on de Man
from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The spirit of jazz vocal gymnast al Jiou has been
revived in a rare lost live recording back from nineteen
seventy six. The new album includes five songs never before
on a live Durou recording, and it's titled Al Jiou
Wow Live at the Child Herald in Washington, DC. In fact,
(00:26):
it was Durou's first performance ever in DC, and the
audio has been missing for the forty eight years since.
It will be released on November twenty ninth, Yes Black Friday,
as a limited edition to LP set at select independent
record stores, but you can pre order it online now.
Joining me to talk jazz and diro Is music journalist
(00:47):
and musicologists.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Hey Scott Galloway, Scott is good to see you. My
friend has been way too long. How you been.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I've been hanging in there, brother, and it's always a
pleasure to hear and see you at the same time.
I'm used to hearing you, but seeing you as an
extra pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I appreciate that my friend Algio wasn't just special as
a singer. He was special as a musician, imitating instruments
and providing a musical exchange with audiences that I would
say most people didn't hear or had not heard before.
In the times I met him, I never, and I
mean never, did I see him without a smile. Yeah,
(01:24):
he had this ever present joy about him. What were
your personal memories of Algio the person?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh man Al was just the warmest cat. He was
a lot of fun. I had the honor of interviewing
him the Delmonico Seafood House and Ensino for several hours
man for his album Tomorrow Today, and it's one of
the most incredible interviews I've ever had. I most particularly
remember having him break down every lyric that he wrote
(01:54):
for a song called Oh Remarking Me that was written
by Jose Aweno and then heed it into a song
called something that You Said, and for him to break
down every single line of it because it was very
metaphorical and poetic and win in so many directions. And
he loved doing it because I don't think anybody had
(02:15):
ever asked him to do anything like that before. And
I just had a ball listening to him as a lyricist,
you know, really breaking down lyricists. We all know that
he was an incomparable singer, but just a really warm guy,
a smart guy, a lot of humanity for the world,
just an honor man. And I saw him a concert
at least ten times, and it was always like Uncle
(02:36):
Ale on stage, rocking it and bringing you good times,
you know, just bringing the good times.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's interesting how you characterized him as a lyricist. I
struggled to adequately describe the fullness of his abilities, his talents,
his music. He was unique in that, at the height
of his career he was receiving airplay across a variety
of four me from jazz to R and B to
pop stations. People learned of him at different times, in
(03:05):
different points in his career.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How did you first hear of him musically?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I was over my friend Eric's house and his mother, Judy,
had a wonderful record collection. She was the one that
would have stuff like Ashford and Simpson and ROBERTA. Flack
and other people, and she had the Algia live album
Look to the Rainbow, and man, I mean that record.
I mean I was always I was already into jazz
(03:31):
and stuff. My parents had great had a great record
collection as well, but we did not have Algio and
that record was a two album set live in Europe,
and I just felt like the hips kid on the
planet getting into him doing things like take five, the
great Dave Grupbek song, and all of his gymnastic vocals
(03:52):
on that, you know, his mouth percussion and a whole
solo of this acapella you know, mouth beats, you know,
before the human and beat box, before hip hop, al
was doing this thing, man, And then beautiful songs like
We Got By, and particularly one called you Don't See Me,
which is also on this new project, and it's one
(04:14):
of the songs I was most interested in bringing to
your attention because it's a song he recorded many times,
but most people kind of never got it or you know,
it wasn't ever really talked about in the press, and
it's probably his most you know, militant socio political tune
from a black man's point of view. You know, it's
(04:35):
talked about you don't see Me. You know, I'm out
here doing the best I can. I'm beating the pavement
and you don't care. And so guess what, you know,
I'm just going to flip the script, and it's kind
of about how the seeds of gangsterism and crime and
whatever well up and certain brothers in the hood because
(04:55):
they haven't been seen, they haven't been given a chance.
It's kind of like a chin to songs like Little
Child Running Wild from Superfly or The Whispers had a
song that was also along the same lines. But most
people think about Bro like you said, moonlighting and they're
in this love together and mourning, and you know, they
think of him as his great jazz vocalist of that.
(05:15):
But when he wrote his own material, a lot of
it was very deep. And that particular song is on
the new project. It's on originally from his album, his
very first album, We Got By. He did it on
Look to the Rainbow. He did it again on Tenderness Like.
He never let that song leave his live performances in Cannon,
(05:36):
but for whatever reason, it never got a lot of focus.
I definitely want to point your listeners in the direction
of that particular song. The album has love songs, it
has a lot of fun things on it, and you
get to hear Al sing al on stage and just personable,
good humored guy. But I definitely direct people to the
(05:58):
song you Don't See Me. It'll be eye opening for
a lot of people, and I think it's super relevant
once again with what we have going on and about
to go on in this country.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I will play that as the bumper as the lead
into our next segment. But Scott, I wonder if you
perceive the fullness of his career as I do with
all of that that you said, I think it lends
credence what I'm about to allege that al Jiau, despite
all of his acclaim, despite how the world loved him musically,
I felt that he never got his just due as
(06:31):
an artist for the fullness of his talent, career and contributions.
Would you agree with that anyway?
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Oh, I'd absolutely agree. There are very few people, I mean,
there are people out there that do get that breath
in depth because you know, you start off doing cover
material James Taylor and again to Dave Brubak piece and
all that, but he was always doing original material and
his material spanned from pop to blues, through gospel, tanged
(06:59):
to He is most often considered to be a jazz musician,
but he's really not. He's just somebody that incorporated jazz
in a very fluid and proactive way in his music.
But his music had some of everything in it. And
because of that, I think he touched a lot of
different niches, but there's very few people that just have
(07:22):
really absorbed a wail of what that brother was about.
Just an incredible, all around original, one of a kind musician.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
If you just two to get.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
My guest right now is a Scott Galloway, Music journalists, musicologists.
We're talking about the new release of Algio Wow Live
at the Child Herald in Washington DC. It'll be released
Black Friday as a limited edition to LP set at
select independent record stores, but you can preorder it online
now more with a Scott Galloway at just a moment.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI A six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
My guest right now a Scott Galloway, as we talk
about this new posthumous release of Algio, which is titled
Algiou Wow Live of the Child Herald in Washington, d C.
It's been uncovered after some forty eight years and includes
new songs covers of some hit songs. Scott, let's get
(08:23):
into that. Take me to Washington, d C. And I know,
and you know, Washington, d C. Is obviously best known
for politics, but it's also had a vibrant music and
jazz scene. I know that first dand but it struck
me that this performance of Algio was his first in Washington, DC.
And I think he was around thirty six at the time.
(08:43):
Why do you think, and there's no way to know,
but why do you think it took him so long
to make his way to DC.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Well, he's from Milwaukee and he moved from there to California,
where he had a very slow burning rise up through
the ranks of recognized. He played a club out in
Los Angeles, actually in the San Fernando Valley called the
Black Black Cafe kind of set up there and he
was playing, you know, once a week. He had a residency,
(09:10):
and you know, he just really started there and his
music was very grassroots, so he didn't initially once he
got signed to Warner Brothers, he wasn't getting to do
a whole lot of traveling because his records didn't warrant
the sales. You know, they're trying to figure out what
to do with them. They knew they had a talented cat,
but they didn't quite know exactly how to promote him
(09:33):
and get him heard. So it's through the radio station.
I think it was WHYZ, but also have to say
that the Quiet Storm station most likely had something to
do with it as well. Was WHR. Howard University. They
you know, you have a cosmopolitan kind of an audience
in that area and people that are arts oriented and
(09:54):
people that are open minded and into new things, and
it was a natural kind of peach dish for an artist,
a black man from Milwaukee who's doing, you know, cover
material of James Taylor in a soulful way and also
writing songs and as a little gospel and little R
and B and little jazz in the mid seventies when
(10:16):
you know, there are aspects of the country that are
coming together a little bit more, a little more unity,
a little more being into what's going on the other
sides of the fences. I was like the perfect artist
to blossom in that kind of environment. And he was conscious,
but he was also artful, and he was also you know,
I think he just had an appeal as an artist
(10:38):
that everybody could get into because he wasn't threatening, but
he also wasn't a pushover.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I got the sense when I met him and talk
with him. I was at Warner Brothers a little bit
after him, but we were still cross paths here and there.
I got the sense that there was a degree my word,
of resentment that he was not more widely embraced in
a radio sense.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Did you get that sense as well?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I absolutely did. I mean, this era that we're talking
about is kind of the golden beginning era of algia
where he's his grassroots artist. But as time went on
and he was on Warner Brothers, he really did. I mean,
he literally told me and other people he wanted to
be and felt that he deserved to be as big
as Michael Jackson. He wanted to be on that level,
(11:29):
you know, And him being in the weird of the
world sessions with Quincy Jones is a whole nother story.
But I mean, in that place, man, I'm sure he
was loving it, but also very nervous because Quince he
put him right there. You're right there with Bob Billon,
You're right there with Tina Turner, You're right there with
Lionel all the big people of the day. And he
was an anomaly, you know, because people were still looking
(11:51):
at him as a jazz musician, and the early fans,
some of them kind of resented, you know. You get
you know, the fans that like you certain way, and
they might have felt he got too commercial and he
got tupop and he has videos on MTV and BET
and VH one more likely more VH one be et
and it's like, you're getting away from the jazz, You're
(12:12):
getting away from the adult music that we really like
from you, you know. But at heart, Al always had
an identity issue. You know. There were audiences that really
looked at him as a jazz artist, but his heart
was way bigger and it didn't always sit well with
him that people wanted him to just go back and
(12:34):
be that guy that he started off as. He really
had superstar aspirations and that's why his music took the
changes that it did, and it they did him a
larger audience, but of course he never became as big
as the others. He was a platinum seller and a
multi Grammy winner, but I think at the end of
the day, by the end of his career, he was
back to doing pretty much jazz material, working with jazz bands,
(12:58):
big bands, classical orchestras in that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
In my introduction, as we go to this next commercial break,
I indicated or introduced him as a jazz vocalist. But
I never wanted to undersell what he did. But that's
most often the reference point people have for Algiou, So
A Scott Galloway. When we come back, let's get into
this new two LP set titled Algiou Wow Live at
(13:25):
the Child Harold in Washington DC.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Can you do that for me, sir?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty KFI.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Mo Kelly here with A Scott Galloway as we talk
about the late al Giau, his musical contributions and obviously
how he was I would say underappreciated. But some of
that is about to change, as there is a new
uncovered recording titled Algiau Wow Live at the Child Harold
in Washington, DC, his live set recorded some forty eight
(13:59):
years ago. Well now seeing and hearing the light of day.
It will be released officially black Friday as a limited
edition two LP set at select independent record stores. Music
journalists and musicologists. A. Scott Galloway has been joining me
since the top of the hour. We're talking about the life,
career and legacy of Algio. Now, Scott, let's get into
(14:22):
Algiou Wow Live at the Child Herald in Washington, d C.
Give us some context as to why this album is
and what it is.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Okay, this album is very important. Wow Live at the
Child Herald is important because it is a live recording
that document him just at the week of release of
his second album Blow. He's in Washington, d C. He's
got a new an audience that's really curious about him
and everything, and he's had two albums and this record,
(14:55):
you know, it shows somebody really incredible just at that
percolating about to take off period, which is super important.
But in the case of al Gireau, what we've all
learned over the years is that his records were one thing,
but seeing him live was another. And to hear the
material that he is doing in this concert, with the
(15:18):
reprotee that he has and the vibe that he gets
and develops with the audience, it's just really special. I mean,
his next official album, after Blow, which is the one
that he was throwing for at the time, was a
live record and he was before a much bigger audience
in Europe. But this one captures him two years earlier,
(15:38):
actually about just a little over a year earlier, and
he's developing all the things that became special. You hear
some of the editing that happened with him later, where
he was refining things. Here on Wow, it's more raw.
You hear him working things out that would become staples
of his act. His balancing act of all different styles
(16:00):
of music, is balancing act of humor and social commentary,
is balancing act of R and B and pop and
all that jazz. And it's just him with a trio.
Tom Canning is the keyboard player that he brought with
him from Los Angeles. They got two pickup musicians on
bass and drums, and they just we're just going to town. Man.
(16:24):
It's like hearing somebody just about to truly be born.
It's just like nothing that you're going to hear. If
you're an algi Ro fan already, you're going to be
thrilled to hear this. And if you haven't really gotten
into him before, they're going to be like, wow, you know,
this is a raw document of something amazing that was
just about to break on the bubble.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
You have covered music, and I'm not going to limit
you to any genre, but you've covered music for the
better part of forty years?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yes, I've been in the music industry since nineteen eighty
two and I've been writing about music music since eighty eight.
And in between eighty two and eighty eight I worked
at the Quiet Storm Kute in Los Angeles, which was
you know, Algira was a core artist.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Rush Qute one O two. I remember it well growing up.
But my question is this, how does a music piece
like this, How do the tapes disappear? How does someone
not know that they're sitting around in someone's vault and
then be able to restore it to a level of
quality which can be released. How first, how could they
(17:33):
lose it? And then how can they restore it?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Well, this is an interesting case where I don't believe
the tapes were actually lost. It was a radio broadcast
and so it was and it happened to be recorded
very well, and it happened because it was for broadcast,
and then it was just kind of set aside, and
it was not the kind of thing that anybody ever
back in the day thought was going to be you know,
(17:56):
released as a commercial viable product, you know, but you know,
to the radio station and the venues, good credit, you know,
it was something that was never wiped, never he raised.
It was just set aside. And the story is that
zeb Feldman, who's the producer of this project, uh and
(18:16):
he's world famous as his nickname the Jazz Detective. He
happened to have a conversation with Algero where al told
him about the first time he played in Washington, DC
and at the Child Herald and and what a great
performance it was. And then Zev was having a conversation
with someone else decades later. It happened to be someone
(18:40):
that said, oh, yeah, we you know, we have I
have a recording of that. You know, I was the
engineer for that particular radio station at the time, and
you know we still have the tapes. And Zev, a
big Algio fan, you know, lost his mind. It was
such a beautiful coincidence, such an incredible find, you know,
(19:00):
for Ou to have mentioned that to him and then
for him to meet this guy that actually has the tape.
They didn't have to do a whole lot of fixing
or digging or whatever. They really just had to deal
with making sure that the rights were fine with the
Alt d Row of State and with Warner Brothers, who
he was signed to you at the time. Warner's you know,
huge company. Now, I don't think they were necessarily just
(19:21):
had to sign off on it. They it wasn't something
they were going to try to claim. And it's perfect
for it to be coming out through Residence Records and
everything that Zev is doing because he's been covering everybody
from Bill Evans to Wes Montgomery and all these other
things that he's been so awarded and honored for finding
(19:44):
these old tapes and everything. So it's perfect for this
kind of a project to come out thro him because
it's a little different for Zev, you know, mostly straight
ahead jazz things he's done. This is an amazing crossover
project that will have a broader appeal some of the
more traditional jazz pieces that he's done.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, we are all fortunate to have one more listen
to the late great al Gireau. The project is titled
While Live at the Child Herold in Washington, DC. It
will officially be released on Black Friday as a limited
edition to LP set at select independent record stores, but
(20:23):
you don't have to wait. You can pre order it
now online. I want to thank my guests, musicologists and
music journalists. It's hard for me to choose what to
call you, so I'll give you both titles. A Scott Galloway.
I've known you for at least I want to say
thirty years at this point, and absolutely I've never shied
(20:43):
away at the opportunity to talk music with you. You love
music arguably more than I do, and I love it
a hell of a lot, so there was no one
else I would want to have this conversation with than you.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
A Scott Galloway. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
You've been on before many years ago, but I hope
to have you on again in the future.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I'm always here for you and it's always an honor
my brother, much much respect.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
It's Later with mo Kelly caf I AM six forty
live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on de Man
from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
The spirit of jazz vocal gymnast al Jiou has been
revived in a rare lost live recording back from nineteen
seventy six. The new album includes five songs never before
on a live Durou recording, and it's titled Al Jiou
Wow Live at the Child Herald in Washington, DC. In fact,
(00:26):
it was Durou's first performance ever in DC, and the
audio has been missing for the forty eight years since.
It will be released on November twenty ninth, Yes Black Friday,
as a limited edition to LP set at select independent
record stores, but you can pre order it online now.
Joining me to talk jazz and diro Is music journalist
(00:47):
and musicologists.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Hey Scott Galloway, Scott is good to see you. My
friend has been way too long. How you been.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
I've been hanging in there, brother, and it's always a
pleasure to hear and see you at the same time.
I'm used to hearing you, but seeing you as an
extra pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I appreciate that my friend Algio wasn't just special as
a singer. He was special as a musician, imitating instruments
and providing a musical exchange with audiences that I would
say most people didn't hear or had not heard before.
In the times I met him, I never, and I
mean never, did I see him without a smile. Yeah,
(01:24):
he had this ever present joy about him. What were
your personal memories of Algio the person?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Oh man Al was just the warmest cat. He was
a lot of fun. I had the honor of interviewing
him the Delmonico Seafood House and Ensino for several hours
man for his album Tomorrow Today, and it's one of
the most incredible interviews I've ever had. I most particularly
remember having him break down every lyric that he wrote
(01:54):
for a song called Oh Remarking Me that was written
by Jose Aweno and then heed it into a song
called something that You Said, and for him to break
down every single line of it because it was very
metaphorical and poetic and win in so many directions. And
he loved doing it because I don't think anybody had
(02:15):
ever asked him to do anything like that before. And
I just had a ball listening to him as a lyricist,
you know, really breaking down lyricists. We all know that
he was an incomparable singer, but just a really warm guy,
a smart guy, a lot of humanity for the world,
just an honor man. And I saw him a concert
at least ten times, and it was always like Uncle
(02:36):
Ale on stage, rocking it and bringing you good times,
you know, just bringing the good times.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
It's interesting how you characterized him as a lyricist. I
struggled to adequately describe the fullness of his abilities, his talents,
his music. He was unique in that, at the height
of his career he was receiving airplay across a variety
of four me from jazz to R and B to
pop stations. People learned of him at different times, in
(03:05):
different points in his career.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How did you first hear of him musically?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
I was over my friend Eric's house and his mother, Judy,
had a wonderful record collection. She was the one that
would have stuff like Ashford and Simpson and ROBERTA. Flack
and other people, and she had the Algia live album
Look to the Rainbow, and man, I mean that record.
I mean I was always I was already into jazz
(03:31):
and stuff. My parents had great had a great record
collection as well, but we did not have Algio and
that record was a two album set live in Europe,
and I just felt like the hips kid on the
planet getting into him doing things like take five, the
great Dave Grupbek song, and all of his gymnastic vocals
(03:52):
on that, you know, his mouth percussion and a whole
solo of this acapella you know, mouth beats, you know,
before the human and beat box, before hip hop, al
was doing this thing, man, And then beautiful songs like
We Got By, and particularly one called you Don't See Me,
which is also on this new project, and it's one
(04:14):
of the songs I was most interested in bringing to
your attention because it's a song he recorded many times,
but most people kind of never got it or you know,
it wasn't ever really talked about in the press, and
it's probably his most you know, militant socio political tune
from a black man's point of view. You know, it's
(04:35):
talked about you don't see Me. You know, I'm out
here doing the best I can. I'm beating the pavement
and you don't care. And so guess what, you know,
I'm just going to flip the script, and it's kind
of about how the seeds of gangsterism and crime and
whatever well up and certain brothers in the hood because
(04:55):
they haven't been seen, they haven't been given a chance.
It's kind of like a chin to songs like Little
Child Running Wild from Superfly or The Whispers had a
song that was also along the same lines. But most
people think about Bro like you said, moonlighting and they're
in this love together and mourning, and you know, they
think of him as his great jazz vocalist of that.
(05:15):
But when he wrote his own material, a lot of
it was very deep. And that particular song is on
the new project. It's on originally from his album, his
very first album, We Got By. He did it on
Look to the Rainbow. He did it again on Tenderness Like.
He never let that song leave his live performances in Cannon,
(05:36):
but for whatever reason, it never got a lot of focus.
I definitely want to point your listeners in the direction
of that particular song. The album has love songs, it
has a lot of fun things on it, and you
get to hear Al sing al on stage and just personable,
good humored guy. But I definitely direct people to the
(05:58):
song you Don't See Me. It'll be eye opening for
a lot of people, and I think it's super relevant
once again with what we have going on and about
to go on in this country.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I will play that as the bumper as the lead
into our next segment. But Scott, I wonder if you
perceive the fullness of his career as I do with
all of that that you said, I think it lends
credence what I'm about to allege that al Jiau, despite
all of his acclaim, despite how the world loved him musically,
I felt that he never got his just due as
(06:31):
an artist for the fullness of his talent, career and contributions.
Would you agree with that anyway?
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Oh, I'd absolutely agree. There are very few people, I mean,
there are people out there that do get that breath
in depth because you know, you start off doing cover
material James Taylor and again to Dave Brubak piece and
all that, but he was always doing original material and
his material spanned from pop to blues, through gospel, tanged
(06:59):
to He is most often considered to be a jazz musician,
but he's really not. He's just somebody that incorporated jazz
in a very fluid and proactive way in his music.
But his music had some of everything in it. And
because of that, I think he touched a lot of
different niches, but there's very few people that just have
(07:22):
really absorbed a wail of what that brother was about.
Just an incredible, all around original, one of a kind musician.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
If you just two to get.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
My guest right now is a Scott Galloway, Music journalists, musicologists.
We're talking about the new release of Algio Wow Live
at the Child Herald in Washington DC. It'll be released
Black Friday as a limited edition to LP set at
select independent record stores, but you can preorder it online
now more with a Scott Galloway at just a moment.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI A six forty.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
My guest right now a Scott Galloway, as we talk
about this new posthumous release of Algio, which is titled
Algiou Wow Live of the Child Herald in Washington, d C.
It's been uncovered after some forty eight years and includes
new songs covers of some hit songs. Scott, let's get
(08:23):
into that. Take me to Washington, d C. And I know,
and you know, Washington, d C. Is obviously best known
for politics, but it's also had a vibrant music and
jazz scene. I know that first dand but it struck
me that this performance of Algio was his first in Washington, DC.
And I think he was around thirty six at the time.
(08:43):
Why do you think, and there's no way to know,
but why do you think it took him so long
to make his way to DC.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Well, he's from Milwaukee and he moved from there to California,
where he had a very slow burning rise up through
the ranks of recognized. He played a club out in
Los Angeles, actually in the San Fernando Valley called the
Black Black Cafe kind of set up there and he
was playing, you know, once a week. He had a residency,
(09:10):
and you know, he just really started there and his
music was very grassroots, so he didn't initially once he
got signed to Warner Brothers, he wasn't getting to do
a whole lot of traveling because his records didn't warrant
the sales. You know, they're trying to figure out what
to do with them. They knew they had a talented cat,
but they didn't quite know exactly how to promote him
(09:33):
and get him heard. So it's through the radio station.
I think it was WHYZ, but also have to say
that the Quiet Storm station most likely had something to
do with it as well. Was WHR. Howard University. They
you know, you have a cosmopolitan kind of an audience
in that area and people that are arts oriented and
(09:54):
people that are open minded and into new things, and
it was a natural kind of peach dish for an artist,
a black man from Milwaukee who's doing, you know, cover
material of James Taylor in a soulful way and also
writing songs and as a little gospel and little R
and B and little jazz in the mid seventies when
(10:16):
you know, there are aspects of the country that are
coming together a little bit more, a little more unity,
a little more being into what's going on the other
sides of the fences. I was like the perfect artist
to blossom in that kind of environment. And he was conscious,
but he was also artful, and he was also you know,
I think he just had an appeal as an artist
(10:38):
that everybody could get into because he wasn't threatening, but
he also wasn't a pushover.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I got the sense when I met him and talk
with him. I was at Warner Brothers a little bit
after him, but we were still cross paths here and there.
I got the sense that there was a degree my word,
of resentment that he was not more widely embraced in
a radio sense.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Did you get that sense as well?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
I absolutely did. I mean, this era that we're talking
about is kind of the golden beginning era of algia
where he's his grassroots artist. But as time went on
and he was on Warner Brothers, he really did. I mean,
he literally told me and other people he wanted to
be and felt that he deserved to be as big
as Michael Jackson. He wanted to be on that level,
(11:29):
you know, And him being in the weird of the
world sessions with Quincy Jones is a whole nother story.
But I mean, in that place, man, I'm sure he
was loving it, but also very nervous because Quince he
put him right there. You're right there with Bob Billon,
You're right there with Tina Turner, You're right there with
Lionel all the big people of the day. And he
was an anomaly, you know, because people were still looking
(11:51):
at him as a jazz musician, and the early fans,
some of them kind of resented, you know. You get
you know, the fans that like you certain way, and
they might have felt he got too commercial and he
got tupop and he has videos on MTV and BET
and VH one more likely more VH one be et
and it's like, you're getting away from the jazz, You're
(12:12):
getting away from the adult music that we really like
from you, you know. But at heart, Al always had
an identity issue. You know. There were audiences that really
looked at him as a jazz artist, but his heart
was way bigger and it didn't always sit well with
him that people wanted him to just go back and
(12:34):
be that guy that he started off as. He really
had superstar aspirations and that's why his music took the
changes that it did, and it they did him a
larger audience, but of course he never became as big
as the others. He was a platinum seller and a
multi Grammy winner, but I think at the end of
the day, by the end of his career, he was
back to doing pretty much jazz material, working with jazz bands,
(12:58):
big bands, classical orchestras in that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
In my introduction, as we go to this next commercial break,
I indicated or introduced him as a jazz vocalist. But
I never wanted to undersell what he did. But that's
most often the reference point people have for Algiou, So
A Scott Galloway. When we come back, let's get into
this new two LP set titled Algiou Wow Live at
(13:25):
the Child Harold in Washington DC.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Can you do that for me, sir?
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty KFI.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Mo Kelly here with A Scott Galloway as we talk
about the late al Giau, his musical contributions and obviously
how he was I would say underappreciated. But some of
that is about to change, as there is a new
uncovered recording titled Algiau Wow Live at the Child Harold
in Washington, DC, his live set recorded some forty eight
(13:59):
years ago. Well now seeing and hearing the light of day.
It will be released officially black Friday as a limited
edition two LP set at select independent record stores. Music
journalists and musicologists. A. Scott Galloway has been joining me
since the top of the hour. We're talking about the life,
career and legacy of Algio. Now, Scott, let's get into
(14:22):
Algiou Wow Live at the Child Herald in Washington, d C.
Give us some context as to why this album is
and what it is.
Speaker 4 (14:32):
Okay, this album is very important. Wow Live at the
Child Herald is important because it is a live recording
that document him just at the week of release of
his second album Blow. He's in Washington, d C. He's
got a new an audience that's really curious about him
and everything, and he's had two albums and this record,
(14:55):
you know, it shows somebody really incredible just at that
percolating about to take off period, which is super important.
But in the case of al Gireau, what we've all
learned over the years is that his records were one thing,
but seeing him live was another. And to hear the
material that he is doing in this concert, with the
(15:18):
reprotee that he has and the vibe that he gets
and develops with the audience, it's just really special. I mean,
his next official album, after Blow, which is the one
that he was throwing for at the time, was a
live record and he was before a much bigger audience
in Europe. But this one captures him two years earlier,
(15:38):
actually about just a little over a year earlier, and
he's developing all the things that became special. You hear
some of the editing that happened with him later, where
he was refining things. Here on Wow, it's more raw.
You hear him working things out that would become staples
of his act. His balancing act of all different styles
(16:00):
of music, is balancing act of humor and social commentary,
is balancing act of R and B and pop and
all that jazz. And it's just him with a trio.
Tom Canning is the keyboard player that he brought with
him from Los Angeles. They got two pickup musicians on
bass and drums, and they just we're just going to town. Man.
(16:24):
It's like hearing somebody just about to truly be born.
It's just like nothing that you're going to hear. If
you're an algi Ro fan already, you're going to be
thrilled to hear this. And if you haven't really gotten
into him before, they're going to be like, wow, you know,
this is a raw document of something amazing that was
just about to break on the bubble.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
You have covered music, and I'm not going to limit
you to any genre, but you've covered music for the
better part of forty years?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yes, I've been in the music industry since nineteen eighty
two and I've been writing about music music since eighty eight.
And in between eighty two and eighty eight I worked
at the Quiet Storm Kute in Los Angeles, which was
you know, Algira was a core artist.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Rush Qute one O two. I remember it well growing up.
But my question is this, how does a music piece
like this, How do the tapes disappear? How does someone
not know that they're sitting around in someone's vault and
then be able to restore it to a level of
quality which can be released. How first, how could they
(17:33):
lose it? And then how can they restore it?
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Well, this is an interesting case where I don't believe
the tapes were actually lost. It was a radio broadcast
and so it was and it happened to be recorded
very well, and it happened because it was for broadcast,
and then it was just kind of set aside, and
it was not the kind of thing that anybody ever
back in the day thought was going to be you know,
(17:56):
released as a commercial viable product, you know, but you know,
to the radio station and the venues, good credit, you know,
it was something that was never wiped, never he raised.
It was just set aside. And the story is that
zeb Feldman, who's the producer of this project, uh and
(18:16):
he's world famous as his nickname the Jazz Detective. He
happened to have a conversation with Algero where al told
him about the first time he played in Washington, DC
and at the Child Herald and and what a great
performance it was. And then Zev was having a conversation
with someone else decades later. It happened to be someone
(18:40):
that said, oh, yeah, we you know, we have I
have a recording of that. You know, I was the
engineer for that particular radio station at the time, and
you know we still have the tapes. And Zev, a
big Algio fan, you know, lost his mind. It was
such a beautiful coincidence, such an incredible find, you know,
(19:00):
for Ou to have mentioned that to him and then
for him to meet this guy that actually has the tape.
They didn't have to do a whole lot of fixing
or digging or whatever. They really just had to deal
with making sure that the rights were fine with the
Alt d Row of State and with Warner Brothers, who
he was signed to you at the time. Warner's you know,
huge company. Now, I don't think they were necessarily just
(19:21):
had to sign off on it. They it wasn't something
they were going to try to claim. And it's perfect
for it to be coming out through Residence Records and
everything that Zev is doing because he's been covering everybody
from Bill Evans to Wes Montgomery and all these other
things that he's been so awarded and honored for finding
(19:44):
these old tapes and everything. So it's perfect for this
kind of a project to come out thro him because
it's a little different for Zev, you know, mostly straight
ahead jazz things he's done. This is an amazing crossover
project that will have a broader appeal some of the
more traditional jazz pieces that he's done.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, we are all fortunate to have one more listen
to the late great al Gireau. The project is titled
While Live at the Child Herold in Washington, DC. It
will officially be released on Black Friday as a limited
edition to LP set at select independent record stores, but
(20:23):
you don't have to wait. You can pre order it
now online. I want to thank my guests, musicologists and
music journalists. It's hard for me to choose what to
call you, so I'll give you both titles. A Scott Galloway.
I've known you for at least I want to say
thirty years at this point, and absolutely I've never shied
(20:43):
away at the opportunity to talk music with you. You love
music arguably more than I do, and I love it
a hell of a lot, so there was no one
else I would want to have this conversation with than you.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
A Scott Galloway. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
You've been on before many years ago, but I hope
to have you on again in the future.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I'm always here for you and it's always an honor
my brother, much much respect.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
It's Later with mo Kelly caf I AM six forty
live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You're listening to Later with mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty
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