Al Jarreau is one of the most beloved musical artists to come out of Milwaukee, and his music – from jazz to pop to R&B – defies easy classification. He performed with a bevy of jazz musicians, and blended an eclectic mix of other styles into his work.
But Jarreau is perhaps best known for his live performances and expressive vocal improvisation. When he passed away in 2017, the New York Times wrote of Jarreau’s “virtuosic ability to produce an array of vocalizations ranging from delicious nonsense to clicks and growls to quasi-instrumental sounds.”
On this edition of Madison Book Beat, host David Ahrens sits down with Kurt Dietrich, author of Never Givin’ Up: The Life and Music of Al Jarreau (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023). It’s the first biography of Jarreau’s life and career, and compiles details collected by Dietrich in interviews with Jarreau himself, alongside dozens of Jarreau’s friends, colleagues, and family.
Dietrich joins us to play examples of Jarreau’s eclectic talent, virtuosic vocalization, and early life in Wisconsin.
About the guest: Kurt Dietrich is professor emeritus of music at Ripon College, where he taught from 1980 to 2019. He received his master’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied trombone, and later was a trombonist with jazz fusion group Matrix.
In addition to many articles, he’s the author of three other books about jazz: Wisconsin Riffs: Jazz Profiles from the Heartland (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2018), Jazz ‘Bones: The World of Jazz Trombone (Advance Music, 2005), and Duke’s ‘Bones: Ellington’s Great Trombonists (Alfred Music, 1995). You can find more at his website, kurtdietrich.net.
Alison Townsend On The Spirit Of Place
What Are You Reading?
A Musical Translation of Movement: Jérôme Camal on Guadeloupean Gwoka and (Post) Coloniality
Joyce Carol Oates, "Zero-Sum"
B. Pladek’s Magical Intersection Of Ecology And History
Jon Melrod's "Fighting Times" in Wisconsin
Novelist And Poet Quan Barry On Nonduality, Communicating Beyond Language, And Writing Across Genres
Poet Deshawn McKinney On Vulnerability As A Muscle
Scholar Nicole Fox On Memorials, Transitional Justice, And The Inescapability Of Memory
Michael Dorgan, "No Fight, No Blame: A Journalist's Life in Martial Arts" (part 2)
On (Short) Storytelling, with Wisconsin writer Steve Fox
The search for dignity in Palestine, with Christa Bruhn
Local Writer JK Cheema On Writing, Family, And Remembering The Past
Jon Shelton on "The Education Myth"
Writer John West On Paradox, Redemption, And Playing Bach
Mark Borthwick, "A Brave and Lovely Woman: Mamah Borthwick and Frank Lloyd Wright"
Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington
Scholar Sami Schalk On Black Disability Politics from the Black Panthers to the 2020 Uprising
Madison Infuses Scott Mitchel May’s New Novel, “Breakneck”
Writer Jeff Sharlet On Whiteness, Slow Civil War, And Harry Belafonte
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
The Story of Mankind
The Federalist Papers
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends