DJ of “Cafè Ali” (On Air Tuesdays 10am – 2pm)

By Natasha Nelson

Musician Ahmad Ali, host of “Cafè Ali” on WUSB, merges music and discussion about the arts on the air. In this interview, Ali discusses the music and radio industries, the inspiration for his show, and the importance of diversity, representation, and activism.

Would you begin by sharing a bit about your musical background? What first drew you to radio?

AHMAD ALI: I have to say that my musical tastes are pretty eclectic. In my studying music, a lot of artists were pointed out to me by my teachers, and the people around me. My neighborhood was pretty diverse. When I finally picked up a guitar at 16, I would go and I would jam. We’d be playing anything from classic rock, like the Allman Brothers, to R&B and Santana. Then, of course, Hendrix was huge. He crossed over and touched a lot of genres in his own right. Back in the seventies, there were a lot of guitar players trying to incorporate laying something down that sounded like Hendrix, over different types of grooves that he would have at least accomplished, had he not passed on. Then, you had the whole fusion movement: rock and jazz were fused. He was hanging out with those guys, like Larry Coryell. I’ve spoken to Larry Coryell about his interactions with Jimi Hendrix. If Larry played a chord, Jimi Hendrix would stop him and ask him “What was that?” So [Hendrix] was going in the direction of jazz fusion, and there’s always that discussion about him and Miles getting together. He had a big impact on me, and still does today. He was an incredible songwriter, and a great, great player.

I love James Brown. We used to call James Brown the King of Soul and my father would say, “No, no—Otis Redding.” Now I appreciate Otis Redding more. I listen to him and his delivery of a song is moving. You can feel something more in his delivery, you know? It’s amazing. It amazes me now—Otis Redding is a big influence.

My father was very heavily into jazz, and of course in the household, I heard all the classic soul. It wasn’t called R&B then. It was called soul music. When I started picking up the guitar, he was pointing me at Wes Montgomery and wanted me to get into some of that. I dig Wes Montogmery immensely, and even more so, George Benson, because he crossed over from jazz into pop, and he does whatever he wants to do musically [laughs], you know? He’s one of the most amazing musicians ever.

I could go on and on. Music has just been a huge thing. I was exposed to classic rock in the seventies, because that’s where the guitars were. In the eighties, I started to listen to heavy metal more—what you were hearing at that period of time on R&B radio wasn’t guitar-driven and -oriented. I heard more of the guitars, of course, in heavy metal. You had guys like Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads. They were incredible technicians.

And jazz fusion was kind of driven—you had artists like Allan Holdsworth. I think jazz fusion was bigger in the seventies, and it crossed over a little bit when Al Di Meola started getting airplay on Rock Radio.

I kind of resisted CDs for a long time. And then someone gave me a CD player, and that was that [laughs].

What was your preferred type of recording?

AA: Vinyl and cassette tape. I had hundreds of albums (that I still have), and now it’s switched again because CDs are just about obsolete. Through the years of listening – especially back in the seventies when we had the [physical] albums – you started listening to an album, and you even got used to the order the songs came up. You’d get used to hearing the whole side. I played one of the Earth, Wind & Fire tunes [on the show] a couple weeks ago, and when it came to the end, I was expecting the next song. Earth, Wind & Fire would have these little segues—these little 30-second bytes of a track they would mix in, and then the next song would come on. When I was listening in the studio, it hit me that way. Even listening to a Pink Floyd album, you listen to the whole side. They take you on a journey.

Now, I would say I’ve leaned more toward the blues. I was more interested in my musicianship in playing jazz, but I kind of lean more towards the blues now, because that’s something that people seem to be holding on to here on Long Island, a little bit more than other genres of music. Whatever I do – whether it’s when I’m performing a jazz tune, if I do a blues tune – it’s just me. I don’t want to put everything in these little boxes. That was a marketing ploy.

You go back in history and you had Little Richard writing a song and performing it, and then they had Pat Boone do it, covering the original artist to market it to the masses. “Tutti Frutti” is [Little Richard’s] song. He wrote it and recorded it—then, they didn’t market Little Richard to everybody. He’s really one of the founding fathers of Rock and Roll, but they didn’t utilize him or they didn’t sell him [his music] to the masses.

Would you speak about the importance of diversity and representation in the music and radio industries?

AA: It’s kind of a difficult subject. A lot of people would talk about cultural appropriation now. Tonally, the I–IV–V–IV progression can be traced back to the drums of Africa—the way they tune the drums. Micky Hart did a whole documentary on it. We talk about appropriation. I’ll give you a perfect example: in my household, my parents didn’t want to hear the blues. There would be jazz and soul music, and when I started listening to the blues and I found some of my grandmother’s records – B.B. King and Bill Doggett – they felt the blues kind of represented bad times. Outside of New York, there still is a blues market, I would say, more so than in New York.

Would you describe your show, “Cafè Ali,” which airs weekly on WUSB? What does the show focus on?

AA: It’s an eclectic mix of music and talk. I’m not committed to any one genre of music, and I think a lot of people want to hear a variety. I think it’s the type of thing they have in their own playlists, you know? They may have Led Zeppelin and then James Brown, and The Weeknd. People aren’t listening the way radio [is often marketed], to keep us in one vein, one genre. This is why people are moving away from radio. People aren’t listening to music that way anymore, and people want to broaden their horizons. They want to hear and get exposed to new and different things, and have their view expanded, as well as hear some of the classics and things they’ve always loved. If you can mix that in together for people, then you’re doing more of a service to the community—to the listeners.

How about the talk aspect of the show?

AA: It’s changed over the years. In the beginning it would be a lot of people I may meet in my journeys. The last year, I haven’t [interviewed] as many movie-makers because of COVID. I used to speak with authors quite frequently. I like to read a book entirely before I speak to an author. I have had [guests] from Carmine Appice and Vinny Appice, to Nile Rodgers of Chic. I’ve had filmmakers [on the show]. [Khalilah Ali] was on here a few weeks ago. I spoke to Tom Rush last week. He has more of a history than I was aware of, and once we got into it there were more connections in the conversation than I thought there would be when I started the conversation. It just flowed from there. Being a guitar player and musician, that’s another level I connect with—speaking with another guitar player, especially. We got into a lot of his history and the other artists he’s worked with. When your tastes are eclectic it’s hard to be an expert in any one thing, so I try to have a grasp on enough things and do homework before speaking with people.

How did you come up with the name for the show, “Cafè Ali”?

AA: I fell in love with coffee houses. Coffee houses can be a community gathering place. There was one really great one we had out in Riverhead, called Eastenders Coffee House. I met and made many great friends [there]. People would come there and they would have a jam. They would have musical performances. But more than that, it was an opportunity to bond with a cool crowd of people. And then, of course, knowing that going back hundreds of years, in places like Turkey, the coffee house was a place where there would be high intellectual conversation, as well as shared coffee. I dug the idea of the coffee house. I really enjoy the more stimulating aspect of the coffee house and the café.

I’m looking at the arts, literature, and entertainment on the show, as well as political activism and looking for justice that people are looking for. I don’t limit myself to put myself into a smaller box. Anything I think that would engage somebody or inform people, giving them information that they might not be able to hear or find in other places.

Would you elaborate a bit further regarding the importance of the arts’, including music’s, contribution to activism, and the importance it plays in our society?

AA: I’m going to offer this aspect of it: if I am having a conversation with somebody and I tell them Black Lives Matter or we need justice for people being murdered in the streets, people don’t want to hear you talking about that—but if I play a song that’s talking about it, they don’t have the same reaction. So sometimes, instead of narrating or making an oral statement, I’ll find a song that makes a statement for me and let the music do the talking.

What are some examples of music, literature, or other artistic media that you feel are particularly powerful?

AA: Right now, I am hooked on the movie One Night in Miami. There are two songs discussed in the movie, when Malcom X is approaching Sam Cooke about the message of his music. [In the scene], Malcolm puts on “Blowin’ in the Wind” by Bob Dylan and asks Sam Cooke why Bob Dylan could write this song, and he couldn’t. This movie is a fictional account, but it makes you wonder. The other song is “A Change is Gonna Come” – monumental in the civil rights movement – by Sam Cooke. There are a few versions that other artists have covered, like Aretha Franklin and Al Green—incredible versions of that song.

Sadly enough, songs like “What’s Going On?” [by Marvin Gaye] are still pertinent today. These songs were 50-plus years old and we’ve had a movement that’s supposed to be addressing this. And yet, times are worse with regard to racism now than they have been even in some of the past—in America, anyway. So those are three songs that, right now, are occupying a good portion of my conscience.

Thank you so much for sharing your insight and for taking the time for this interview today. Is there anything you’d like to add, to share with readers?

AA: I would say this: I would say to support WUSB, making financial donations to support this independent voice. It is extremely important, especially in this age. Because we don’t have the commercial thrust to make money, we need the listeners who appreciate the information that we bring, to support us—the information, the culture, the music, the discussions, other points of views. I would say that’s important. Please support WUSB, so that it will continue to be here.

 Ahmad’s Music Picks: