Al Jarreau - In London (1985)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD. A 'deluxe edition' with 4 bonus tracks was released in 2010, but my copy is the original CD release.

Recorded at Wembley Arena, London in November 1984, this doesn't contribute much, if anything, to the Jarreau œuvre. While the performances are high energy, they aren't much different from the previously released versions. Much like watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV, the applause and crowd noise seems fake and forced. Still, I was a Jarreau completist in '85 so I picked it up on vinyl upon release. Then, 30 years later, I wanted to hear it again and got the CD on the cheap ($2.80). It's good, just needless. Money grab from WB? Easy contract filler from Al? Both? Meh - doesn't matter much. This will continue to get occasional spins for those times when I go full Jarreau in my listening (which is more often than you might think).

Also available on VHS and Beta:

Chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #125
• Billboard Jazz: #10
• Billboard R&B: #55
• CashBox: #108
• CashBox Jazz: #1
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #14

Tracks: 8 songs, 40 minutes. Simply put, if you like the studio versions, you'll like these rote live versions, too.

1. Raging Waters, originally from High Crime
2. Black and Blues, originally from Jarreau
3. I Will Be Here For You, originally from Jarreau
4. Let's Pretend, originally from High Crime
5. High Crime, originally from High Crime
6. Roof Garden, originally from Breakin' Away
7. Teach Me Tonight, originally from Breakin' Away
8. We're in This Love Together, originally from Breakin' Away and Jarreau's biggest chart hit (#15 pop, #6 R&B, #6 AC)

Curiously, all the original albums were produced by Jay Graydon but this live album was produced by Tommy LiPuma.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: (mostly self-plagiarized from my memory for High Crime): With dear friends Richard L. and Eleanor J., I saw Jarreau supporting this album in August 1985 at the Southern Star Amphitheater at Astroworld. I think some apartments stand at that location now, but it was Houston's only outdoor concert venue before they opened that mosquitofest in The Woodlands. The concert was fantastic but that's not what I remember most: I had great seats (8th row) and in the seat directly in front of me sat pro basketball hall of famer Moses Malone. Malone was in the prime of his career and a complete jerk. When fans would approach him for an autograph, one of his people would step in and tell them that Moses was on vacation and wasn't signing autographs. Really?!? I hate it when celebrities want the fame and fortune that comes with being a star and think they can still go out in public like a normal person. About 10 people asked for autographs, so that would have taken maybe 2 minutes of his time. What a jackhole. In related news: on the way home from the concert, I got my first speeding ticket (65 in a 55).

The wonders of the Internet (and the excellent site RockinHouston.com) give us this photo from that night:

This live album was released in August '85, so there's that tenuous connection as well. David Sanborn opened. Instead of my customary sleeveless concert tee, I opted for a white sweatshirt like this one:

Current ridiculous asking price for the sweatshirt: $255.99. I think I paid $25 (consider I was making $4.10/hr at the local plumbing supply that summer). I wore my sweatshirt often, usually with dark green khaki pants from the army-navy surplus store. And a mullet.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Givin' It Up (2006)
L is for Lover (1986)
High Crime (1984)
Jarreau (1983)
Breakin' Away (1981)
This Time (1980)

Al Jarreau - This Time (1980)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

With this album, Jarreau wisely teamed up with producer Jay Graydon and began leaving his previous jazz-influenced work for more commercial pop/R&B with a clean L.A. sound. Jarreau and Graydon released 4 albums in 5 years (1980-84) and this era was Jarreau's most successful commercially. Faithful blog reader Dirk says "That 4-album stretch of Jay Graydon produced material, in particular, (from "This Time" through "High Crime") was the very definition of 'firing on all cylinders'." I'll second that. While this is a strong album, it isn't quite on par with Breakin' Away and Jarreau, but you could easily see the direction Jarreau was headed. As always, Jarreau's powerhouse voice is the centerpiece and deservedly so. Got a quiet night around the house? Put the aforementioned quartet of albums on shuffle, mix a cocktail, and grab hold of your honey. Relaxing and romantic, but not too much so. Perfect. I know what I'm doing tonight.

Press of the time:

• DownBeat (★★★½): "no other vocalist so effectively converts schmaltz into sentiment"
• Stereo Review: Recording of Special Merit
• Billboard: "seems on a new path to straight pop, not jazz singing"
• Record World: "Jarreau explores a more pop-oriented sound that will probably draw even more followers."
• CashBox: "eschews his scatting acrobatics for a pop sound"

Chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #27
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• Billboard R&B: #6
• CashBox: #34
• CashBox Jazz: #1
• Rolling Stone: #20

Tracks:  My top tracks are those with lots of electric piano and Jerry Hey horn parts: Never Givin' Up, Gimme What You Got, Love Is Real, and Your Sweet Love. One of the true joys of this album is the jazz-waltz of Alonzo. The title track is classic Earl Klugh soft pop/jazz complete with a guitar solo from Klugh himself - a great way to close the album. While the vocalese on Chick Corea's (I Can Recall) Spain is a showcase for Jarreau's talents, the arrangement falls flat for me so I usually skip it.

Exclusive CD longbox photos courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  My sophomore year in college ('85-'86), I somehow talked my parents into springing for a private dorm room (below); I enjoyed the privacy and solitude. By that time, I was a big fan of Jarreau and started delving into his back catalog, including this album. It got quite a bit of playing time in my dorm room back then so I'm surprised I didn't get a CD copy until recently (Big Brother over at Amazon tells me I ordered my copy July 16, 2013). Overall, I didn't particularly enjoy college, but albums like this helped me through.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Givin' It Up (2006)
L is for Lover (1986)
High Crime (1984)
Jarreau (1983)
Breakin' Away (1981)

Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away (1981)

I was a huge fan of producer Jay Graydon's West Coast sound before I even knew there was a name for that subgenre. Now I'm an all-in, unapologetic lover of this smooth stuff (why should music that is pleasant immediately be dismissed as shallow or inferior?). Half-time shuffles, lots of Fender Rhodes, tasty horn licks, and the usual West Coast session cats. While this album as a whole isn't quite as good as its follow-up, Jarreau, it runs a very close second. Those two together are a great pairing, for sure. The music is so positive and Jarreau just sounds like he's happy and having a great time. It's contagious. Case in point: on one of my early songwriting attempts around 1983 or '84, after many hours of hard work, I realized all I had done is rip off the title track of this album. It was completely derivative, but at least it was my derivation (I think I titled my song 'Til I Met You). At the very least, it was an indication of how deep this music had embedded itself into my subconscious around that time.

Press of the time:

• Billboard: "Jarreau always seems to be in full control"
• CashBox: "fresh, light, and consistent."
• Rolling Stone (★★★): "An engaging mixture of strutting slow songs and jazzy set pieces"
• Record World: "What Jarreau does with his voice can only be compared to smiling, laughing or dancing."
• Stereo Review: "can be listened to many times without exhausting its many possibilities."
• Record Mirror (★★★★): "another fine and pleasing package"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #9
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• Billboard R&B: #1
• CashBox: #9
• CashBox Jazz: #1
• Rolling Stone: #9

Tracks: I can't pick a favorite; I enjoy the whole thing. On the rare occasions when I skip a track, it's the cover of Brubeck's Blue Rondo A La Turk.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: For the most part, this album takes me back to early '80s young innocence. However, one day when I was giving a friend a ride in college, I had my dubbed cassette copy of this album in my Pioneer deck. At the opening scatting of track 4, Easy, she turned to me, scrunched up her face, and said something like, "You sure listen to some weird music, Mark." I guess she would have been happier if I had been playing Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Ironically, I sang some weird music at her wedding a few years later.

Not too long after that ride, I was giving a ride to another college friend when the final track, a cover of the 1953 pop standard Teach Me Tonight, came on. Dare I call it the definitive version of the song? My passenger just closed his eyes and said, "Preach on, brother! Listen to him. He wants his squeeze to teach him right! And he wants her teach him tonight! Sing it!" Preach on, Al.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Givin' It Up (2006)
L is for Lover (1986)
High Crime (1984)
Jarreau (1983)

Al Jarreau - Jarreau (1983)

Note: this CD is not the 2009 reissue containing a bonus track (although I've since downloaded that bonus track which is really good and I can't figure out why it was cut from the album).

I'm in a remarkably good mood for a Monday morning and thought I needed to hear Al Jarreau sing the song Mornin'. This collaboration with West Coast sound gurus David Foster, producer Jay Graydon, and session musicians Jerry Hey and Steve Gadd, is a great collection of commercial pop/R&B tunes featuring Jarreau's fantastic voice. Sure, he could have stretched out a little more, but that's only a minor concern - if Jarreau wanted to produce commercially successful music more than scat singing, what does it matter to me? I like this album so I'm glad he went that direction. I just looked at a list of 30 "desert island" CDs I put together in 2004 and this wasn't on it. I should revisit that list because I think that slight was a mistake. This kind of "feel good pop" is easy to criticize and won't make any critic's "best of" list, but none of that matters to me. Probably his best album, released when he was 43(!). This opinion is "confirmed" by besteveralbums.com.

It also got some love at the Grammy Awards: Both Step By Step and Mornin' were nominated for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s) while the album itself was nominated for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Ian Eales, Jay Graydon & Eric Prestis) and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (Graydon).

Reviews/ratings:

• Smash Hits (8 out of 10): "Sensual healing"
• Stereo Review: "makes me feel good inside"
• Musician: "he finally seems to have found the mix that will let him have his cake and hit records, too."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart Peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #13
• Billboard Jazz: #1
• Billboard R&B: #4
• Rolling Stone: #8
• CashBox: #7
• CashBox Jazz: #1
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #2

Tracks: Even though the video is admittedly cheesy, Mornin' (#21 pop, #2 AC, #6 R&B) is a fantastic picker-upper and probably my favorite song on the album followed closely by Boogie Down (#77 pop, #9 R&B). Also good are Save Me, Trouble In Paradise (#63 pop, #10 AC, #66 R&B), and Love Is Waiting. I've grown so accustomed to listening to this album straight through (it's only 39 minutes long) that I don't even skip the two tunes that I don't like as much: I Will Be Here For You (Nitakungodea Milele) and Black And Blues.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  In 1984, I dubbed a copy of this album from a teacher's LP and was immediately a Jarreau fan. The tape got a lot of playing time in my car and my neighbors were often treated to my vocal stylings as I sang along (very loudly) with Jarreau. On a good day, I'd attempt the A at the end of the bridge of Mornin'. When I saw Jarreau in concert in 1985, I couldn't wait for him to sing Mornin'. He did and I wasn't disappointed.

This album helped a great deal with my transition to college in the fall of 1984. Not only did I listen to it a lot, it helped me find kindred spirits (read: music geeks) that also liked it.

Exclusive CD longbox photos courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Givin' It Up (2006)
L is for Lover (1986)
High Crime (1984)

George Benson & Al Jarreau - Givin' It Up (2006)

Not only a first-time collaboration between Benson and Jarreau, they bring along friends such as Herbie Hancock, Chris Botti, Marcus Miller, Jill Scott, Patti Austin, and Paul McCartney. The album is mostly covers with some originals. Instead of letting Jarreau simply sing, some arrangements lean heavily on him trying to sound like Bobby McFerrin which often sounds just like low groaning, not scatting. That's the only downside to the album, though. Benson sounds great, as always. A better-than-average crossover album.

Billboard, October 28, 2006, p. 79

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #58
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #1

Tracks: The disc starts off with the duo redoing two of their signature songs, Benson's Breezin' and Jarreau's Mornin'. Breezin' fares better than Mornin', and while neither comes close to the originals, they're enjoyable enough. The stand out tracks are All I Am, and the covers of Seals & Croft's Summer Breeze, John Legend's Ordinary People, and Miles Davis' Four. I've never enjoyed Every Time You Go Away (let's blame Paul Young) and the cover here makes me want to hit the skip button, but it's the material, not the performance.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
George Benson - Best Of: The Instrumentals (1997)
Al Jarreau - L is for Lover (1986)
George Benson - 20/20 (1985)
Al Jarreau - High Crime (1984)
The George Benson Collection (1981)

Al Jarreau - High Crime (1984)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a LP, later replaced by a CD.

I'm a Jarreau fan because of his fantastic voice, but unfortunately, there's not a lot on this release that requires his amazing vocal talents. Writer/producer Jay Graydon got caught up in the drum machines and synth sounds of the pop music of the time and overdid it. This ruins what otherwise could have been good R&B material. To make it worse, instead of acknowledging the drum machine, they credit drummers as "Skinsoh Umor," "Chip McSticks," and "Tyrone B. Feedback." That's so smug, it's like giving your listeners the finger. Still, I listened to this album quite a bit during my freshman year in college and didn't notice all the synths then. That sound hasn't aged well, in my opinion. I bought this CD more for nostalgia than for the actual music.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "heavy on metallic synthesizer gimmicks and lean on melody"
• Billboard: "Jarreau's migration to the pop mainstream is completed"

The album was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, eventually losing to Stevie Wonder's In Square Circle album.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #49 (Jan 19, 1985)
• Billboard Jazz: #2
• Billboard R&B: #12
• CashBox: #31
• CashBox Jazz: #6
• Radio & Records National Airplay: #18
• Rolling Stone: #41

Tracks: Not my favorite Jarreau album (that would be 1983's Jarreau), but it does contain my favorite Jarreau song, the high energy Imagination, which is well-written and has some fantastic horn parts. Interestingly, it was co-written with Glen Ballard who would go on to have hits with Alanis Morissette and Dave Matthews Band. Murphy's Law is one of the better songs mainly because of Jerry Hey's clever flugelhorn parts (it was later rerecorded as a 1988 TV show theme song). Tell Me and Let's Pretend aren't great songs, but I have to admit liking them because of their catchy bridge sections. The minor hit from this album, After All, is a fairly mundane ballad that doesn't do anything for me. I usually skip the title track, Love Speaks Louder Than Words, and Fallin'.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: With dear friends Richard L. and Eleanor J., I saw Jarreau supporting this album in August 1985 at the Southern Star Amphitheater at Astroworld. I think some apartments stand at that location now, but it was Houston's only outdoor concert venue before they opened that mosquitofest in The Woodlands. The concert was fantastic but that's not what I remember most: I had great seats (8th row) and in the seat directly in front of me sat pro basketball hall of famer Moses Malone. Malone was in the prime of his career and a complete jerk. When fans would approach him for an autograph, one of his people would step in and tell them that Moses was on vacation and wasn't signing autographs. Really?!? I hate it when celebrities want the fame and fortune that comes with being a star and think they can still go out in public like a normal person. About 10 people asked for autographs, so that would have taken maybe 2 minutes of his time. What a jackhole. In related news: on the way home from the concert, I got my first speeding ticket (65 in a 55).

Previously revisited for the blog:
L is for Lover (1986)

Al Jarreau - L is for Lover (1986)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

This album marked the beginning of the end for Al Jarreau in my book. I can understand an artist wanting to go in new directions, but sometimes their fans just want more of the same ol' stuff. The good tracks are very good, but the bad tracks are just forgettable. Bringing in Nile Rodgers to produce is never a bad idea, but he made a poor choice by getting rid of the Jerry Hey-arranged backing horn section that made Jarreau's previous albums a treat. The music seems aimed at a pop audience, not Jarreau's R&B/jazz fans. Still, he's got a fantastic voice that finds several songs that spotlight it on this release.

From a 2015 interview with producer Nile Rodgers:

It’s the best thing I ever made that didn’t sell. The theme from Moonlighting was on it, but Al and I thought it wasn’t cool enough. So we took it off the album. That becomes a hit, and the album sank. Shows what I know.

Press of the time:

• Stereo Review: "offers such superior pop music that it demands acceptance on its own terms."
• Billboard: "A sure shot at the top"
• CashBox: "More cool funk-jazz from the master"
• Musician: "it's almost impossible not to be captivated."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #81 (Oct 25, 1986)
• Billboard Jazz: #9
• Billboard Pop CD: #28
• Billboard R&B: #30
• CashBox Top CD: #25
• CashBox Jazz: #7
• Rolling Stone: #31

Tracks: the first 4-5 tracks are stellar, but then the album seems to fall apart. Particularly bad is (We Got) Telepathy.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember listening to side one of this album in the Lee St house in Commerce, Spring 86.