A.F.O [All for One]
- Val Wilmer
Extract
[All for One]
Organization and record label formed in New Orleans in 1961 by the alto saxophonist and arranger Harold Battiste, Jr. He and the other board members – Peter Badie, John Boudreaux, Jr., Melvin Lastie, Alvin “Red” Tyler, the pianist Allen Toussaint, and the guitarist Roy Montrell – sought to retain control of their music by organizing their own recording sessions and keeping the profits within the African-American musicians’ community. They produced a number of popular recordings, including the hit I Know (1961, A.F.O. 302), by the singer Barbara George, and a jazz album with Ellis Marsalis as leader. The A.F.O. Combo, also known as the A.F.O. Executives, comprised Battiste, Badie, Boudreaux, Lastie, and Tyler and played both jazz and rhythm-and-blues.
J. Broven: Walking to New Orleans: the Story of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (Bexhill-on-Sea, England, 1974; Gretna, LA, 1983, as Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans), 161 H. Battiste: Liner notes, ...