Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and guitarist Raul Midón's 13th studio LP Lost & Found is a deeper dive into life's triumphs and disappointments with universal theme such as love, fear and unapologetic bliss being explored through a more mature lens.
Midón joined WBGO's Doug Doyle to talk about his latest album and career.
"This album is all new songs, but the title track 'Lost & Found' I wrote some 30 years ago. It never got recorded on anything. It was a song that was actually inspired by a recording of Bob Dylan at Town Hall in New York, reading a poem called 'Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie' and that's what inspired me to write the song. It's sort of a kaleidoscopic group of images that he puts together and rhymes together. It was absolutely fascinating to me."
The guitarist says the album comes at a reflective time in his life.
"It's sort of time when, for better or for worse, I've made the choice to do what I want and to have my own record label. During the pandemic it was also a time to kind of think about what we're doing and what we don't want. It's just as important to know what you don't want then to know what you want."
Raul, who will be at Joe's Pub on August 23, admits performing live in New York City is different.
"I still think of New York, especially if you're into jazz, as a right of passage. If you want to have any kind of foot in the jazz world, New York is probably the best place to be in the world. I don't think it's as true as it used to be because of the ability to do remote work and people can record from home now and connect up via the Internet. I think it used to be essential. I don't know if it's essential now, but it's still really important."
Raul Midón has worked with countless legends in the industry including Bill Withers, Herbie Hancock, Sting, Terence Blanchard, and Dianne Reeves. He received two Grammy nominations back-to-back in 2017 and 2018 for his albums “Bad Ass and Blind” and “If You Really Want” in the Best Jazz Vocal Category. Since moving to the DMV he established himself as an accomplished recording engineer, recording all the vocals for both of the aforementioned in his home studio. In 2019 he was invited to speak at his high school Alma Mater Santa Fe Prep and also was given the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Miami.
Midón says he learned several key music skills at the University of Miami.
"I was always in the vocal ensembles and group sing is actually something I miss. I learned how to sing in the studio which ended up being my career. When I was still in Miami I ended up doing a lot of sessions for every Latin artist you can think of. I was singing backgrounds and I learned that skill from being at the University of Miami. I also learned about music composition there."
You can watch Doug Doyle's entire interview with Raul Midón here.
