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Peachtree City, GA – The Fred Amphitheater – 2015

Fredrick “Freddy” Brown Jr. Amphitheater – Peachtree City, GA – 2015

We just spent a wonderful two nights and day in Peachtree City, GA at the Fredrick Brown amphitheater with 20 tables right down front with folks drinking anything too thin to chew and eating their favorite foods. And at the moment it’s Sunday morning and we’re on our way to the airport and heading home. Laughing and singing Charlie Daniels’ “Devil went down to Georgia”. We had a wonderful time. That’s always the case in Georgia. Usually Atlanta at Chastain Park but this time in a beautiful amphitheater with mostly people who’ve never been to a Jarreau concert. I love this phenomenon. We’ll be back to that in a minute.

Maybe I should have known all of this would unfold as it did because of a rare airplane experience for me. It’s quite common to be sitting in a section of the airplane where a person or two will recognize me. On the way here from home I sat down next to a guy in his 30s with whom I exchanged a nice “good morning” and we both began to settle in for the flight. I suppose that because of a comment or two from other passengers he inquired about what I do. So I gave him my quick little answer that I do music and I’m on my way to Atlanta for a concert. Pretty soon I’m answering questions about what music I do and verify my name, which he’s heard other people mentioning. He’s struggling a bit to make some sort of connections in his mind about the obscure little facts including the kind of music that I do and now he’s kind of getting it. So now comes the question, “Where you from?” When I said Milwaukee, his eyes lit up and a huge grin was on his face as he said, “I’m from Port Washington!” Which is just up the street from Milwaukee.  Man, we laughed like for two hours discussing everything from being cheese heads, Milwaukee breweries, Wisconsin Badgers fight song, and “oh ya you betcha”. Both of us saying it’s the best place in the world to grow up. His name was Jim and we promised to stay in touch. So all of this should have been the good omen that this weekend would be over the moon!  That was one of most wonderful airplane rides I’ve ever taken.

I don’t know maybe it did or did not predict what a wonderful time we would have in Georgia in a town 40 miles away from Atlanta. It doesn’t get any greener and summery than Georgia does between June and September. The trees and greenery seem to create and fill the air with their own moisture that always makes it feel like the back porch with lemonade and a fan (someone brought me one on stage!).

This was our tune up and rehearsal date for the summer tour and so we all arrived in the early afternoon to do a rehearsal of some new music. Hey, you kids in the back row. Be quiet and pay attention! This is what you have to do sometimes. This is how you maximize rehearsal time. It’s a little rough, but if you tack on a little extra rehearsal time to a normal sound check you can get a little more comfortable. It worked out great! …even though I was a little rusty on some songs that we haven’t played for awhile.

Sabrina Murtaugh opened the show in the singer/songwriter, Tracy Chapman-Ricky Havens, guitar strumming approach.  Sweet face and warm magnetic style with fire. Later on she told me she’s from Carolina and lives in Nashville now and this new audience was warm and liked her a lot. She said she has a quartet she performs with as well. I told her that I would love it if she didn’t lose her solo performing and mentioned getting a 16inch bass drum for her to use.

There were a few quick announcements after she finishes and they call my name and we hit the stage. I promise you there’s a freshness in the reaction and on the faces of people who are hearing and seeing me and my guys in what we do for the first time. There’s a lady a couple tables back who has her fingers squeezed together and intertwined and her eyes darting back and forth from one side of the stage to the other. Not everybody was like her but I knew and the band knew that these were new friends. I spent time on stage talking about making these new friends, and I should have mentioned that so many there last night were connected to the military. Anyway this won’t be the last time I mention standing up in front of new audiences…these days we get to Poland and Lithuania and Azerbaijan.

I sat on the stool down front, and though I felt conspicuous and self-conscious, the audience seemed to not notice until I made some comment about surgery last October. A new facet and “ah-ha” experience happened when someone from the audience shouted, “We Got By”. I look at Larry with a question mark and he touches the piano in a couple of ways that make me know where the key is and off we go…impromptu…and they know it. That’s what’s cool.

That was kind of the spirit of the evening. I won’t mention the exact new tunes that we did. I want it to be a surprise…we’ll be near you soon. But it all had the effect of really elevating the spirit and feeling in the band as we played old things in combination with new stuff and came off refreshed. I think we’re all looking forward to a return to Peachtree City and ex-mayor Fredrick Brown’s amphitheater.

Chris Walker’s wife was there, along with his sister-in-law and a cast of thousands, including a second sister-in-law who was pregnant nine years ago and hadn’t figured out a name yet for her soon to be born son. They looked at me with raised eyebrows and question marks and I said, “Of course, call him Zion.” He was there too. Icing on the cake was Fred Hielsberg from Ripon showing up. Class of 1961.

Ok folks. That’s it for now. I’m going to go home and jump in the studio with Melissa Manchester for an afternoon and then I’ll see you in Yountville!

Love,

Al

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A good piece from a good friend

Hi everyone,

Oh I’m just here sitting and thinking about stuff….Sometimes I come across radio shows, television programs, and articles that catch my eye because they have to do with the stuff of life. You know what I mean??!! Please go and catch up with Shannon West at Smooth Views. She’s a great journalist, writer, music lover, and citizen. Her writing and thinking echoes a lot of my own “stuff” about what’s happening here. I won’t try to summarize. Just trust me and have a fun read.

http://www.smoothviews.com/archives/perspectives/perspectivesAug12.htm

All the best,

Al

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Paris – International Jazz Day – 2015

Paris – International Jazz Day – 2015

Oh my God, y’all! I wish you could have been there sitting on my shoulder seeing what I saw and hearing what I was thinking because it seems so loud in my head. I have a special love for this lady, Paris that began at the beginning of my European career and before.

Before…has to do with the romance of the highest possibilites that a human being can soar to making the most of an eyelash and a whisper and which adores rain that turns the streets into a mirror of glistening color with a flower shop and a boy and a girl with an umbrella.

It rained in Paris as we joined up with UNESCO and the Thelonious Monk Institute to celebrate International Jazz Day with 187 other countries doing the same on this same day…April 30^th, 2015. Dear me! I still can’t believe it. UNESCO and the United Nations! The United Nations and Jazz coming together with the Thelonious Monk Institute, with Herbie Hancock as the Chairman.

When American Jazzers went abroad and played this music that was born in America, they talked to an audience of people who’s freedoms were being taken away. In one evening or matinee they saw life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—the pillars of democracy. The United Nations recognizes this fact in the contributions of jazz. And everyone knows that the mother and father of today’s music, such as Rock n Roll and Rhythm and Blues and Pop, came out of Jazz.

This year was the 4^th Annual International Jazz Day and how wonderful to have it happen in France. Fact is the French love jazz more than we do in the U.S. They turn it upside down and inside out and study it and swish it around in their mouths like fine wine and continue to have lots of places to hear and do jazz. And they have the oh-so-important smaller and intimate clubs that are just like the early days. This means that a lot of really average people are continuing to enjoy this truly creative and personal expression of art.

Music director and coordinator, John Beasley put together a hot band that included Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Terri Lynn Carrington, and Leigh Ritenour. Myself along with Femi Kuti, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Dhaser Yousseff, Annie Lennox, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hugh Masakela and others all got to showcase our talents on such a great stage. And there we were, a personification of the tradition at its best. 8 separate singers and horn players all playing for the first time with a band they had just met. None of this was lost on the audience who heard and applauded every nuance. This as a concept at all is jazz.

Herbie Hancock, our lead amb-jazzador, was elegant and fresh and personal in his spoken remarks and playing. His choice of John Lennon’s “Imagine” as our finale speaks volumes. This audience at the UNESCO auditorium breathed it all in and stood and applauded in appreciation.

The week in Paris also included some press interviews and a workshop with jazz appreciators at the Philharmonic of Paris, a spectacular facility that stopped me in my tracks on my way to the stage. The whole affair could almost be a watercolor painting with that boy and girl and the flower shop just across the street from the Philharmonic. I hope to be apart of next year’s celebration.

Auvoir,

Al

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Panama City, FL – 2015

Panama City – 2015

Oh what a night of wonderful music! This is one where it was an outdoor festival and it rained with umbrellas everywhere, only to stop and produce a rainbow right over the crowd. And believe it or not, it happened as I sang, “rain rain go away, come again another day.” This is the kind of concert that people will never forget. We sang together in the rain 10,000 strong. Us against the elements. “Day-o” was incredible. After the show was over, I went to the back of the venue and signed CDs and posters and T-shirts for what seemed to be 2 hours. People were laughing and hugging and telling me their favorite Al Jarreau stories. It felt like I could have been there for all of them. I guess I was in a way. I finished the night off with a quick video interview for a local radio station and it was onto the bus again to head back to Orlando.

Me??? I took the deepest breath that you can imagine and exhaled with a “thank you, Father”. I’m on my feet getting healed by the music. I don’t talk enough about gratitude. Remind me that it’s on my list.

I know this was short and sweet, but so was Panama City. Until next time…

Love,

Al

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Miami, FL – Jazz Roots – 2015

Miami – Jazz Roots – 2015

I’ve been to Miami a lot but not enough. It should be right there alongside New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, London, and Paris. I’m still thirsty. Well anyway, the audience turnout was great and welcomed me and David Sanborn and the Jazz Roots outreach program.

I’m always a little worried to follow David Sanborn at a performance J. The stage is still red hot and smoldering with small pockets of fire that continue to erupt during your opening song. This has been happening for years and it’s a marvelous union of a couple of guys cut from the same cloth. We’re thought to be jazzers but we both have such a deep love for R&B, Soul, and Pop, which will not allow us to exclude those genres from what we do. This day was special because we were Jazz Roots’ amb-jazzadores reaching out to young people who are doing music or who want to do music and will certainly be the future of music to come.

The Jazz Roots outreach program was started by Larry Rosen of GRP Record Label. What a heart-felt notion in a growing desert of interest in the arts education at all by City Hall and Washington DC. Education itself is a withered stepchild who’s unheard, unattended, and marginalized. Teachers are underpaid and underappreciated. So Jazz Roots is reaching out and encouraging and even finding big-hearted donors who will provide instruments for kids.

David and I spent an hour on stage answering questions and chatting with a hundred students on the afternoon of the concert. We glanced at each other in astonishment as we both spoke about the crying need of support for music and the arts. More about the singular importance of arts in life a little bit later…

This for me was the highlight of the Miami visit. David and I did burn the stage up in this wonderful concert hall with wrap-around balcony seating and a pipe organ in the back of the stage. Magnificent…really European in concept, i.e. organ recitals and 200 voice choirs on stage with a full orchestra. That was so much fun to turn around and recognize those people with a shout or a hand wave and they hit it real good on “Day-o”.

Yo, Miami! Let’s keep doing this. There is so much more for me to share with you. See you in Panama City…

Love,

Al

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Orlando, FL – 2015

Orlando, Florida. Old downtown theater. I walked in for sound check and just felt so reassured and at home hearing the band on stage already bubbling along and cookin’. My family! On my way over to say hello to them Joe Gordon, my manager, quickly directed my attention to the stairs leading to the downstairs dressing room to which I responded in a loud voice, “Oh no…more chairs, less stairs.” The house crew covered their mouths and doubled over in laughter at this reaction from the headliner. Four simple words instead of a run of expletives.

At sound check I was thinking and feeling that this room is a great little venue. 800 seats including the balcony with everybody nearly arms reach away. It’s hard to get rich with a penthouse in New York and Paris and a boat in Monaco when you sing and play in rooms this size, but this kind of intimacy brings out the humanity and feelings that the music can suggest. It’s perfect for me. They even responded immediately and positively to my statement, “all of this has come from a source”.

We switched the order of songs and added new music that brings a new zest…like the early appearance of “Mornin’” and “Take Five” within the first ten minutes. This covers a lot of territory of the required song playlist. And so we reached deep in the bag for freshness and pulled out “Moonlighting”. You should have seen and heard the reaction. Then Turano played a serous jazz cadenza on “We’re in this love together” that was a surprise and delight and made me sing the whole song just slightly different as I anticipated what he was going to do. You go, Joe! The whole band felt the fresh air. Chick Corea’s “Spain” is a complex form that has a wonderful surprise written in. We’re getting pretty good at playing it. We finished the set list and the band left the stage while I stood there and tried to figure out what to do next. I surprised myself when my voice went, “day-o” and everybody responded with a descending line that comes next in the classic banana boat song. Wow! The whole place lifted off the ground and went sideways tumbling head over heels. Fun…we were having it…and that’s the high point; everyone losing their worries and cares and being a kid again. Child’s play. Magically you get rejuvenated, restored, and HEALED. And that’s alchemy of the highest order…taking ordinary sound and light and brass and ebony and ivory and making gold. No, it’s better than gold. Harry Belafonte! I should stop here and spend an hour talking about this brilliant, groundbreaking artist. You can never say enough about him, and you could write a book about his civil rights activism alone.

Oh there’s Shannon West from Smooth Views in the front row. She came all the way from Jacksonville, FL and I’m touched and flattered every time she shows up because we’ve been interviewing and talking for years. She is so smart and intelligent as an observer and writer and she loves jazz with all her heart and soul. Check out Smooth Views.

We all said good night, and my gang and I hopped on the bus for a late night snack and a 5-hour ride to Miami.

See you there,

Al

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