Al Jarreau and the Metropole Orkestra
LIVE—Concord Jazz 33858. 100 N. Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Web: concordmusicgroup.com. Cold Duck Time; Jacaranda; Bougainvillea; Flame; Agua de Beber; Something That You Said (A Remark You Made); We’re in This Love Together; I’m Beginning to See the Light; Midnight Sun; Scootcha-Booty; After All; Spain (I Can Recall)
PERSONNEL: Al Jarreau, vocals; Vince Mendoza, producer, conductor, arranger; Joe Turano; producer; Ronald Kook, acoustic piano; Peter Tiehuis, guitar; Aram Kersbergen, bass; Martijn Vink, drums; Roy Bruinsma, trumpet; Martjin de Laat, trumpet; Ruud Breuls, trumpet; Marc Scholten, saxophone; Paul van der Feen, saxophone; Leo Janssen, saxophone; Nils van Haften, saxophone; Max Boeree, saxophone; Martin van Leer, trombone; Vincent Veneman, trombone; Jan Bastiani, trombone; and orchestra.
By Alex Henderson
Like George Duke, Patrice Rushen, Roy Ayers and George Benson, Al Jarreau started out performing straight-ahead acoustic jazz but ended up enjoying his greatest commercial success in R&B. Jarreau had some major R&B/ adult contemporary hits in the 1980s, including “We’re in This Love Together,” “Mornin’,” “After All” and the theme from the ABC television series “Moonlighting.” But Jarreau never abandoned vocal jazz; in fact, some of the albums he has recorded in the 21st century have been jazz-oriented, and this one is a good example.
Recorded live at the Theater aan de Parade in the Netherlands in April 2011, this CD finds a 71-year-old Jarreau joining forces with the Metropole Orchestra (a Dutch jazz institution that has been around since 1945, albeit with different lineups over the years). Vince Mendoza, who co-produced this album, serves as the orchestra’s conductor. And those who prefer to hear Jarreau as a jazz singer rather than as a commercial R&B/adult contemporary singer will be happy to know that jazz is Live’s dominant ingredient. R&B, adult contemporary and rock are all part of the equation, but Live is a jazz vocal album more than anything. Jarreau does perform a few of his commercial hits of the 1980s with the Metropole, including “We’re in This Love Together” and the ballad “After All” (he doesn’t perform “Mornin’”).
Those R&B/adult contemporary performances are pleasant enough, but it is on the straightahead jazz selections that Jarreau really shine and lets loose. The veteran singer is in very good form on inspired performances of Duke Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” Lionel Hampton’s “Midnight Sun” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Agua de Beber,” which is an appropriate choice in light of his long-time fondness for Brazilian music (Jarreau included Jobim’s “One Note Samba” on his first album back in 1965). The 1980s often found Jarreau being compared to Peabo Bryson and Lionel Richie (two of the more middle-of-the-road R&B/pop artists of that decade), but his roots were Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, Babs Gonzales and Jon Hendricks. His roots were vocalese, scat singing and bop. And he shows his Jefferson/Pleasure/ Gonzales/Hendricks heritage on Chick Corea’s “Spain,” Eddie Harris’ “Cold Duck Time” and Joe Zawinul’s “A Remark You Made,” all of which were written as jazz instrumentals but received lyrics from Jarreau along the way. Zawinul wrote “A Remark You Made” when he was co-leading 1970s fusion band Weather Report with saxophonist Wayne Shorter; that fusion gem isn’t as straight-ahead as some of the other jazz performances on this CD, but even so, it is quite faithful to jazz’ spirit of improvisation. The fact that “A Remark You Made” has some rock energy doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have jazz appeal as well, and Jarreau is no less spontaneous- sounding on “A Remark You Made” than he is on “I’m Beginning to See the Light,” “Midnight Sun” or “Agua de Beber.”
Some jazz enthusiasts will lament the fact that Jarreau’s encounter with the Metropole Orchestra is only about 70-80% jazz instead of 100% jazz. But then, Jarreau never claimed to be a purist or a jazz snob. And more often than not, he makes ample use of his jazz chops on this enjoyable CD.
