The late iconic singer Al Jarreau, the beloved platinum seller, known the world over for his hits “We’re in This Love Together,” and “Mornin’,” thetheme from the TV series “Moonlighting,” started along his path of music, crafting a beautiful blend of Jazz standards with Pop hits of the day.
Now comes very exciting news. Al Jarreau's WOW! Live at Childe Harold, a recently unearthed live radio recording discovered by Grammy-nominated producer Zev Feldman is being released as a limited-edition 2-LP set on November 29 as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday Event, and as a deluxe CD and Digital Download on December 6 on Resonance Records.
The live recording captures a still-developing Jarreau captivating an audience on a hot August Saturday night in Washington, D.C. at the city’s intimate, historic, and cherished Childe Harold Club. Backed by a trio led by longtime collaborator Tom Canning on keyboards, Jarreau, purposely proves in this pristine record why it was only going to be two more years before he catapulted to international stardom.
Canning, Feldman (Co-President of Resonance Records) and celebrated music journalist and historian A. Scott Galloway joined WBGO's Doug Doyle to talk about the 10-song treasure.
Zev Feldman met Al Jarreau in the early 2000’s and told him about this 1976 D.C. debut at the Childe Harold.
"I'll never forget this one evening where we were actually at a dinner together. We were having a conversation and he said hey Zev you know the first place I played in D.C.? I said no Al where did you play? He said I played at this place called the Childe Harold. He told me about it and remembered that night. We didn't talk all that long about it but it must have made an impression on him."
That eventually led Feldman to discovering a beautiful live recording.
"First of all, we had to find this tape. It is because of a legendary radio station WHFS which unfortunately no longer in existence that this recording exists. That station was a free-form station. They would play Bonnie Raitt, Emily Lou Harris, the Grateful Dead and (Bruce) Springsteen, but they also had the knowledge and foresight that Al Jarreau was an important and artist. They made this recording. It was a live broadcast thanks to an Operations Manager named David Einstein who ran the station and was also the air talent. They brought in a sound truck to record this concert and they recognized that he was a great talent that was budding at that time. A lot of this road for me started back last year when I was introduced to David Einstein and I went to his home in Annapolis, Maryland. He had this tape. You got to imagine I was totally gobsmacked, thinking back to that conversation I had 25 years ago when Al quizzed me, asking if I knew the first place that he had played."
But for Zev Feldman and Resonance Records the long journey to the WOW! Live at the Childe Harold release had just begun.
"It's one thing to have a tape, it's another thing to be able to curate an album release. When you talk about those steps that are necessary, first, you got to vett it. We're not just in the business of jockeying to put out tapes to put out tapes. There's a distinction between good and great. This was Al Jarreau at a time where he is swinging for the fences and he is leaving a mark and impression on these Washington, D.C. fans. It was clear from the first listen that the recording sounded great. I went first to Patrick Rains who was Al's manager for many, many years. Mr Rains introduced me to Joe Gordon at the Al Jarreau estate and we had to start there. I approached them on bended knee and explained without any expectation that hey we had found this recording and thought it was pretty remarkable and quite revelatory. I explained about the mission of Resonance Records being a 501c3, not-for-profit and how my boss George Klabin and I were taken with this. So, we had a conversation with the estate and we eventually came to terms and understanding of what it could be. We weren't done there. We also had to go to Warner Music Group, who Al was signed to at the time. Now I can't speak to copyrights in other countries, but here in North America, if you find a recording and an artist was signed exclusively at that time, you have to deal with that entity. We then went to the Business Affairs Department at Warner Music Group who we were lucky enough to get their blessing and work out an agreement. Boy, it took a lot of leg work and time. I'd say the stars and the moon really had to align themselves for this to happen."
Keyboardist Tom Canning, a long-time Jarreau collaborator, remembers playing with Al at the Childe Harold that evening. The Grammy-nominated arranger, writer and producer had met Jarreau two years before that live recording was made in D.C.
"We began working as a duo in a tiny club that held 50-60 people and he didn't have a record deal at the time. They were just shopping for a deal and everybody passed. I won't mention names but a couple were pretty famous ones. He eventually ended up at Warner Brothers. The genesis of it was that he and I developed a chemistry working as a duo for several months and eventually he did get a deal. We went out with a modest little trio and just started playing some gigs. I remember kind of the vibe of the Childe Harold. It was a while ago but I remember it was a distinctive venue. I definitely remember the audience's reaction. They were with Al from the downbeat. They were already great big fans and he only had one record out. I thought that was pretty amazing. The vibe was fantastic and everything you hear on the album, people shouting out to him 'We love you All' captures the Childe Harold concert. He was very comfortable on stage working with the audience."
Al Jarreau, who passed in 2017, is the only singer to win Grammy Awards in the Jazz, R & B and Pop categories.
Music historian A. Scott Galloway wrote an overview for the new release. Galloway was honored to be a part of this deluxe set features a singer who would become one of the most successful crossover artists.
"I think that the reason that Al Jarreau became such an amazing international icon starts with his heart. He had a really big heart. He had great ears and a love for all music. It was rooted in jazz but he spent time in church singing. He loved pop and R & B songs, songs that had messages, and love songs. He was so well-rounded. We all know that he studied psychology before he became a music star. He was well into his 30's when he really began to blossom. He was still experimenting and finding himself but really had absorbed a lot of life by the time he got to Warner Brothers."
WOW! includes five songs never before heard on a live Jarreau recording including James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and Count Basie’s “Shiny Stockings” and early takes on “Take Five” and “You Don’t See Me".
The new deluxe set also includes new interviews with Tom Canning; Nile Rodgers, Dionne Warwick, Will Downing, DeeDee Bridgewater and more.
You can SEE Doug Doyle's entire interview with Zev Feldman, Tom Canning and A. Scott Galloway here.
