In Black America; Garland Jeffreys

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE From the Center for Telecommunication Services, the University of Texas at Austin. This is in Black America. In Black America, discussions of the Black experience in contemporary society. With this week's program, here's your producer and host, John Hanson.

Garland Jeffries, a mulatto rock singer from New York, is a classy singer-songwriter with staying power. With at least two bags of tricks. He's black and white, as can be, right down to his vocals. Since his first LP recorded back in 1973, entitled Garland Jeffries, Jeffries has moved from rock to reggae without losing a beat. This week, Black Rock singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries in Black America. She wants a TNF when she's told she has got nothing.

She just threw in some of the west coasts to see those roadways there. This week, Black Rock singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries has moved from rock to reggae without losing a beat. This week, Black Rock singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries in Black America. She wants a TNF when she's told she has got nothing. This week, Black Rock singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries has moved from rock to reggae without losing a beat. Rock singer-songwriter Garland Jeffries was born and raised in New York City. He made his official entry into music in the late 60s with a group entitled Grinders Switch featuring Garland on vocals.

Not much happened with that band, so Garland left to go with the loan. In 1973, Garland recorded an LP for Atlantic Records entitled Garland Jeffries. After waiting four years to record his next album for A&M Records, Garland collected so much material, he decided to call the album Ghost Writer. Garland has never been much of a love songwriter, so many of his songs are uptempo. He's a classy singer-songwriter with staying power, and with two bags of tricks. Black and white, as can be, write down to his vocals. In the music that he makes, he retains his feeling for cafe society and his sense of the street. Garland blends the sounds of New York and two almost everything he writes. For example, on Ghost Writer's Cool Down Boy, find him moving from rock to reggae without losing a beat. And the mix of influences characterizes the LP, which includes The Great Wild in the Street, a single he recorded for Atlantic Records some years previously.

The LP entitled One Eye Jack is Cooler, and the influences more nearly absorbed into a standard American rock format. I talked to Garland after a recent club performance. He just feels a very electrifying performance. What do you get to energy? Well, I take a lot of vitamins and I get a lot of sleep. I just think that a performance is trying to put out as much as you can to the audience who pays to see you. I like a dynamic kind of a show. I have some favorite performers who have always been dynamic performers. And I like to emulate them like Little Richard and Jackie Wilson, people like that. And I always think that that's the kind of performance I'd like to see. And that's the performance I'd like to... If I was a sort of a static performer, I really wouldn't want to be in the music business.

Looking at your performance, I somewhat compared you to Mick Jagger, as far as the energy, the lyrics, the type of audience response. Is that a good characterization or what? I think if people have all kinds of comparisons, I mean, I think Mick Jagger is a great performer. There's no question about it. In fact, we just did a couple of shows with him in Hartford. We opened for the Stones in Hartford two nights. And it was great to meet them and meet the Stones. And you felt like it didn't feel very far away from what they were doing actually in a certain way. I felt that they were my peers. And in fact, that is the story. How did you get involved in music? I was liked as a kid. I mean, it was a big music fan. My family were not musicians, but big, big fans. And from that, I got into it. I was kind of a natural performer as a kid, like a natural ham when I was like five, four years old.

Any form of music training? No, no, no. What I, Jack Able, was dedicated to Jackie Robinson. Why so? Well, Jackie Robinson was one of my idols, one of the few idols I had as a kid. I grew up in Brooklyn, sheep said Bay. I was born in 1943. And Jackie Robinson came into the big leagues in 1947. And my father, who was also his mulatto, was a great ball player. Unfortunately, he was too old before the color line was broken. And he was a great, great home run hitter. He would have been like a major home run hitter. My, my actual father, you know. So he turned me on the baseball and Jackie Robinson. I remember going to see the first couple of games. I was five years old for me, four and a half years old. When I first saw Jackie Robinson play. And I wanted to be like Jackie Robinson in a certain way. He was brazen and there was certain excitement about him.

And he meant a lot to me in a certain way. I feel like the kind of music that I do as a black man is very different. There are no black people doing the kind of music I do, so to speak. Most of your albums, some are recording. You're up in some recording in the United States. Is there a difference in different countries when you record a particular piece or a particular song? Maybe just the environment. You can record in Jamaica. You can record in New York. You can record in, say, Paris, Germany. You know, it's the environment. Some people run things differently. If you record out in Los Angeles, it's just more of a laid-back atmosphere. I get my most, my best results. I had a New York. I recorded my escape artist album in New York. And I recorded part of the new live album, Rock and Roll Adults, in New York, and part of it in France. I mean, I could stand to do something somewhere else. I've been thinking about maybe doing the next album, which I'm going to be doing in the beginning of the year, in the Bahamas.

You know, that's a possibility. I mean, I have had my best work come out of New York, though. You speak of albums. So what type of concept has gotten Jeffrey has to go through and put together a quality album? That's a good question, because now we're finishing this tour. Today is actually the 18th. I'll be finishing this tour probably around the 3rd of the 4th. I'm then going to Italy for about three weeks in one of vacation. And when I return, I'll start to write some songs. That's the most important part of a record, is the material with songs. I'm going to spend about four months. I'm going to put together about 25 new tunes for the album, choose the best 15, and record those. That's my general game point. Be a happy, listen, baby, I'll be alive.

Be a happy. I'm new boy, Lord. On the downtown streets, such a old woman, she's going to set my writing. Show me, baby, all the rich as you can. Then I'm going to tell you, baby. It may not be right tonight. I'll be alive. Be a happy. Be a happy. I'll be alive. Be a happy. Be a happy. I'll be alive. Be a happy. Listen. I'll be alive. Be a happy.

Listen, what's your prophecy? I'm forever happy. I'll be alive. Be a happy. Be a happy. Be a happy. Be a happy. Be a happy. Be a happy. No wager. On a downtown New York city street. Search down for a lover man. He's so fine. He's sweet. Show me, baby. All those rich as you can.

Then I'm gonna tell you, darling. Tell you everything I'm mad. I'm mad now. Be a happy. I'm a, I'm mad now. Be a, be a happy. I'm mad now. Be a happy. I'm mad now. Be a happy. I look, see you. Walkin' down the street. Look to see you. Walkin' down. Fungin' through the way. Look to see you. Goin' down the street. Look to see you. Walkin' downtown.

But what's to know out there? Show me how it goes, it how? Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I got it. Oh! Oh! Oh! One more time, says it. Oh! Downtown. Downtown. Well, downtown. I'll be now be okay. I'll be now be okay. I'll be now be okay.

Darling, hope you understand That I may not be okay. I'll be now be okay. I'll be now be okay. I'll be now be okay. I'll be now be okay. Listen up, listen. I'll be now be okay. You mentioned writing. Do you particularly like writing,

over-producing, or over-performing? They all come in different times. I mean, it's like performing becomes exciting because I stay away from it. So if I stay away for six months, then I get the itch to the ground performing and I finish the writing. So the next six months, the next block, six months, is going to be like writing, thinking about the album, the concept, you know, thinking about the sound, choosing the musicians, the studio, the album cover, you know, the concept, the approach. And then after, say, June, so I'll be getting itchy, you know, to go out and perform again. And it'll be like, okay, who's the band going to be? And we're going to play. Should we do your first? I'll be playing Japan for the first time this year. I'm looking forward to that, Japan and Australia. You mentioned the difference between the audience. Is there a difference between you or playing the audience? You wanted Japan against America and audiences? Well, here's an interesting point of view. Tonight we played in Austin, right? Last night we played in Houston.

Houston, the audience in Houston, was surprisingly unbelievably exciting. I couldn't believe it. Whereas tonight I found that the audience was not as exciting or as excited as the Houston audience. I was pretty surprised, you know? I felt that I put out a lot of energy tonight. I put out a lot of feeling. And I felt that the audience was restrained, you know? I guess that happens sometimes. You know, you can't. I mean, I don't depend on the audience to make my performance. I always try to put out the best, you know? So you never know, you know? I expected that out of the three, we played Dallas, Houston, and Austin, out of the three performances. I'd say that the Austin crowd was expected to be the most receptive, but in a sense was the least receptive. The song, 96th year, seems to be the cult song for Garland Jeffries. What does that song do for you? Well, it's only a song that I liked back in the 60s and then I just recorded. It's not anything special in my life. Your relationship with Epic Records has been a good relationship.

It's been a better relationship than any record company I've been with in the past, simply because they are promoting me and that there are people out there in the company who are really interested in me, and they believe in me. Earlier today, you were at an autograph party with Silent One House. How do you deal with that to people coming out to different things that someone asked you to sign on a graph, particularly go to ask you to sign on a graph on a neighbor or on a belly? How do you deal with that? Well, in general, I mean, if it's like a signing thing, it's a lot of fun. I mean, I meet a lot of people, some friends of mine who show up, I haven't seen in five years, will show up at the signing. And then there are fans, real true fans, who come with albums and stuff, and I really respect that. That kind of contact with those kind of people, I appreciate a lot, because I feel they come in. There's something I've only done a few of those things. I just find that kind of contact with those people is really nice. I mean, signing someone's belly. I mean, that's a joke. I mean, it doesn't really mean anything special in me. It's cute.

I mean, let's hope that this is some fun, too. You know, we're not just like hard work, and you know, blood sweat and tears, you know? Any other songs that have any particular meaning to you? Well, I would say that all my songs do the songs that I've written, you know, for me, my own material has got a lot of meaning to me. You know, it's very personal. And then there are a lot of songs that other people do, you know, that I like, you know, that other artists have done. You know, when I can't think of them all famed, but there are many, many tunes, you know, that have a special, like, someone in the crowd is a great song, you know? It's a brilliant song, you know? It's a Spanish song, like he said. And it's a song that has very special meaning for me, you know? There are very few black men of color rock and roll waters, yourself, particularly in the bus boys. Are blacks or men with color strained away from rock and roll, or going to jazz, funk, or what have you? Does that concern you? Well, you know, I really feel that the whole black and white color line thing is, you know,

a bit of a drag, to be honest with you. I think that people should be able to choose any kind of music that they happen to be infatuated with or excited about. And it should be beyond color and what color you are and all that. I think that's, you know, people, you know, record companies and radio stations like to put people in boxes. Oh, this is black music. This is white music. This is AOR music. This is black radio music and all that. I just think it's a lot of crap, you know? And that's unfortunately the way the world works. And I just think that music should be, you know, fun, pleasurable. And, you know, even if it's going to be something that you perform and, you know, you make a life out of and you make money out of, it should be something that goes beyond color breakdown. What is dream? I can't hate it, I'm 90. I can't hate it.

I can't hate it. I can't hate it. I can't hate it. We got a bank, go share it. And did not let it. You transvestite, don't be the bear. You better not touch it. You're best believer. The teacher's child is going to be a man.

Why is this piece? Pay your money's worth, take it. Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why? This is a miracle. Tell me why. You don't think this sign. Do you really care what he has done? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece? I'll say, why is this piece? You get back. Come on. Come on. Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Why is this piece?

Why is this piece? Why is this piece? Listen, Final Park is singing and entertaining still fun to you. Most of the time it is. Sometimes it's hard because you do some of the same songs over again. Some of the same shows. When I try to come up with a certain kind of inspiration each night. Sometimes it's hard and it's just work. But that's the name of the game. If you think about a Broadway performer who goes on Broadway and shows on Broadway for six months. They do seven shows a week, including two on Saturday for six months. That performer has to come up with something every night. Some nights they don't come up with it. If you think of a great performer, say the Rolling Stones. If you've seen any of the shows on this tour, you'll know that some of the shows haven't been good. But that's natural. That's the way things are.

You can hope for a 90% style kind of thing when you're performing. That's the way I like to shoot for it in the 90s somewhere. Tom Sever, Tom Sever in his pitch. And as a fantastic season, he's 26 and 7. He lost seven games. Maybe one game, he lost 15 to one. He got knocked out of the box. So you can't always be perfect. Is there any preference playing before a club audience versus a concert setting? It's different. I like the club audience because it does get really exciting sometimes. But at the same time, I'm really into more larger crowds now. I like playing for 3,000, 4,000 people. So that really appeals to me. You have a bigger projection in a smaller audience. A lot of times you can't really see the audience. You can't see the people.

Black Rock singer and songwriter, Garland Jeffries. You have a comment or a like to purchase a cassette copy of this program. Write us the address is in Black America, Longhorn Radio Network, UT Austin 78712. That address again is in Black America, Longhorn Radio Network, UT Austin 78712. For in Black America's technical producer, Walton Morgan, I'm John Hanson. Join us next week. We've been listening to in Black America, discussions of the Black Experience and Contemporary Society. In Black America is produced and distributed by the Center for Telecommunication Services at UT Austin, and does not necessarily reflect the views of this station or the University of Texas at Austin. This is the Longhorn Radio Network.