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To listen to excerpts of Al Jarreau's hit singles, please Click Here Jazz/Pop Legend Al Jarreau Talks About His New Compilation Album Love Songs, And His New Projects
By Jonathan Widran The only vocalist in history ever to win Grammy Awards in jazz, pop and R&B, the legendary Al Jarreau hit another unique milestone in 2007 when he extended his Grammy streak to four different decades (‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, 2000s) by winning in the Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance category for his recording of “God Bless The Child” with Jill Scott. Never one to rest on his considerable laurels, the multi-talented 68-year-old dynamo is following 2006’s Givin’ It Up, his first ever dual collaboration album with fellow multi-genre superstar George Benson, with three exciting album projects on catalog giant Rhino Records this year - including a new Best Of collection featuring several new tracks and his first ever Christmas project. The first of these was released in January, the romantic-themed collection, Love Songs. A 14-track collection featuring songs he personally handpicked from his vast recording catalog, Love Songs includes his most enduring adult contemporary hits “We’re In This Love Together” and “After All,” in addition to his popular early ‘80s take on “Teach Me Tonight,” smooth jazz era gems “So Good” and “Heaven And Earth,” a little heard version of Elton John’s “Your Song” (from his 1976 album, Glow) and “Let It Rain,” a highlight from Givin’ It Up that also features vocals by Patti Austin. With his inimitable vocal mix of silky romance and innovative jazz scatting abilities, Jarreau is so identified as one-of-a-kind interpreter that it’s easy to forget the great songs he has written or co-written. These include some of his biggest hits: “After All” and “Mornin’” (with David Foster and Jay Graydon), “Roof Garden” and the “Theme From Moonlighting.” In addition to “After All,” Love Songs has three other tracks that Jarreau had a hand in composing, including “Goodhands Tonight,” “Let It Rain” and “Brite ‘N’ Sunny Babe,” a late ‘70s song he originally wrote for his wife Susan and which appeared on his album All Fly Home. Jarreau credits the “fresh young ears” at Rhino Records for convincing him to listen back to that tune and put it out for a new generation to hear.
“It’s completely appropriate that I include that tune on Love Songs, because it was eight years ago that Susan first told me that [a compilation] of my best romantic songs was long overdue,” says Jarreau. “She kept calling it ‘Al’s Valentine card,’ and we had many of the older songs already picked and were just waiting for the right opportunity. The good news about doing it now is that we were able to include a few extra songs that I really love, like the one with Patti, the Rex Rideout tune ‘Secrets of Love’ from All I Got and ‘My Foolish Heart’ from Accentuate the Positive. I’m sure some fans are going to wonder why songs like ‘Since I Fell For You’ are missing, but to me it takes those fresh ears to go beyond the obvious and create a collection that captures the spirit of my career, yet also feels very much like a recording of today.” Jarreau has toured the world many times, and says he never gets tired of audiences screaming out for great ballads and romantic songs. It’s a love he shares with them that has been part of his own life since growing up in Milwaukee as a huge fan of legendary crooners Nat “King” Cole and Johnny Mathis. One of the first songs he remembers singing around the house was “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.” He says the qualities that attract him to a great love song - and may inspire him to record it - are the same as those that make a compelling song in general. “It catches your ear and draws you in,” he says. “I love melodies that are set inside rich interesting chords that just tug at my heartstrings. Sometimes beautiful instrumental pieces can even hit me this way. For the past 12 years, I’ve been doing symphony programs and singing a lyric I wrote to Bach’s Aire on a G String. “The late Joe Zawinul from Weather Report wrote one of my all-time favorite romantic songs ‘A Remark You Made,’” the singer adds, “and it has such intelligence and heart. Those are the things that attract me to a good love song. There are just certain sensibilities that we as human creatures with a soul respond to, certain vibrations in the music. The task of any great singer is to either write new songs that tap into those or to find them out there so you can pass them along to people whose hearts are in the same place.” It’s ironic to note that for Jarreau, music was always his top passion, but was actually a second career choice. He earned a Master’s in Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Iowa - specializing in work with everyone from ex-cons to amputees - before relocating to San Francisco to work as a counselor. Hanging on to that day job for five years in the 1960s, he hooked up with keyboardist George Duke (a future jazz/R&B legend himself) and from 1966-69 he performed locally with Duke’s trio. Some of the gigs were in the center of the flower-power universe, the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, and Jarreau would often encounter kids on the street who he would later be helping in his job as a rehab counselor.
Jarreau, who performed almost 40 concerts with George Benson last year (including the U.S. and Russia), is currently planning his live performance itinerary for the rest of 2008. He recently changed booking agencies and is hoping he will be able to include concerts in some of his favorite provinces in France over the summer. “Even back in the club days in the Bay Area, I was fairly confident that if I stuck with my singing, I could make a few friends who would tell their friends and maybe the crowds would grow,” says Jarreau. “I was willing to wait for the right big break and was happy to work in small rooms to build my audience. The huge success that came in the mid-‘70s was surprising at first, but I had a great deal of confidence that I would be able to sustain it because I was finally doing what I love to do and making a living at it. Every time I walk onstage these days, I feel the same kind of exuberance about the music as I did back in the beginning. I have this renewed appreciation for the art form that keeps growing, as I continue to experience this joy that stems from my profound love for the music.” Jonathan Widran is a free-lance music/entertainment journalist who contributes regularly to Music Connection, Jazziz and All Music Guide. He can be reached at Few522@aol.com. Special Feature: Streaming Video and AudioYou can listen to excerpts of songs from Al Jarreau's album Love Songs, plus hear Al talk about this album, by clicking the links directly below:
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