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