Author Archives : admin

Java Jazz Festival With The George Duke Trio

Jakarta, Indonesia – 3/2/12 and 3/4/12

Jakarta, Indonesia is way down in Southeast Asia, near Malaysia. It’s further south than the southeastern tip of China, one of a chain of island countries that could have been the setting for The King And I. It takes about 20+ hours to get there. Puff puff I’m tired.

God bless Peter Gontha. It was a real inspired flash of genius to begin this Java Jazz Festival (actually a cultural exchange program by any other name) more than a decade ago.

In addition to Al Jarreau with George Duke, other names on the marquee included Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Erykah Badu, Bobby McFerrin, Pat Metheny, and really good prominent locals.

We’re up early for an 8:30 pm sound check and we do the first of two nights at Java Jazz. I’m backstage doing my warm-ups, la la la la la. And Jeff Lorber Fusion is out front and on fire, and the people are on fire too. It’s hard to know who is inspiring whom. But I can tell you one thing that’s for sure: it would be hard to find a more enthusiastic audience anywhere on the planet. In fact, the next morning at a press conference I talked about how great the audience’s singing was.

Maybe if you were at the Apollo Theater in the 40’s, 50s, 60’s or danced your ass off at The Palladium, bloomers and britches and uptown… Just across town from where you lived you might have seen this celebration at Java Jazz in Jakarta, Indonesia, that RESEMBLES black folks in Harlem… Jumpin’ and bumpin’ and pumpin’… New new new.

Ok ok ok ok ok. They will never know the “Chitlin’ Circuit” that BB and Lightnin’ and Muddy knew but…

Both nights I was amazed to see what every songwriter dreams of… People singing their music. I watched in amazement as they approached the phrase… “And touched the face of God.”

The second night was more of the same except for the fact that George and I and the trio took another small, big step… We could feel it!!! We were tighter, and that made it looser. Cindy Bernadette, a beautiful and talented local singer, helped George and I sing Duke Ellington’s, “Mellow Tone.”

3000 screaming people on both nights. Our second night was with Pat Metheny. What a painter. He played with a drummer and bass player that night; really free and expressive. We also saw Chanté Moore and Bobby McFerrin, who are amazing musicians too. And off we went and had a great time. The George Duke Trio is amazing. Mike Manson is on bass, and Gorden Campbell on drums. Mike Manson is playing like a percussionist. And Gorden Campbell is a super drummer playing like a mad scientist. Intensity! And George was exploring the universe. When I’m with them, I’m going for it. And finding a new me as I do.

Indonesia was great. The people were wonderful and even the weather cooperated.

Thank you Peter Gontha and staff. What you’re doing is truly amazing. You’ve made an important new home for this great American art form called jazz. The cross-cultural exchange aspect is brilliant. Let’s do it again next year.

Share :

San Remo Music Festival

San Remo, Italy

I sang with Matia Bazar at the San Remo Music Festival. It is seriously spectacular and has always been a super spectacular event with the biggest and most glamorous Italian and international artists appearing on the same stage on the same evening. I’ve only been a couple of times, but the first time I exchanged greetings with Luciano Pavarotti, who was sitting just beside a well-known Italian actor.

San Remo is on the Italian Riviera, which is part of the beautiful and ritzy Cote d’Azur. Cannes and Nice are just minutes away.

Matia Bazar has been a super hot cross over band since the mid-70’s, recording and performing internationally. They are huge. And the festival proposed that I might sing the, Speak Softly Love,” with them at the festival. Wonderful idea! I’ll be there. We landed on a beautiful sunny afternoon at the Nice airport, and drove the breathtaking one hour drive to Hotel Nazionale on the main street of San Remo… with all shop till you drop shopping. The town was decked out like Christmas. I went straight to bed. Big day tomorrow. And an even bigger day today getting here. We’ll have a rehearsal tomorrow and do press like crazy. Thank you God. I am so smiled upon and given unto… blessed and favored. Here I am in Italy doing this… with 15 million people watching.

Sylvia, Piero, Fabio, and Giancarlo are wonderful warm people doing great music. And the arrangement that we created was beautiful, with strings.

Performance day was a marathon 3-ring circus with the entire backstage packed with performers. Jose Feliciano was the only one with a dressing room. And there was a crowd in there too. But the spirit of the occasion was definitely warm Italian exuberance. And the spirit won out.

And what an orchestra. They must have played over a hundred pieces of music that day.

I didn’t get a chance to personally come say “hi”, but if you see them say “hi” to the following people who were part of that gala: Brian May, Patti Smyth, Macy Gray, Emma Marrone. What a day.

Lorena you were fabulous. Thank you for your spirit and invaluable help.

Of course, thank you Matia Bazar for inviting me to sing with you guys. It was a pleasure. And thank you San Remo Music Festival. You are fabulous.

Love,

Al Jarreau

Share :

Airmen of Note – DAR Constitution Hall

Looking out the window this morning, I haven’t seen snowflakes this big since I was a kid in Milwaukee. They take forever to fall, and if you’re outside you can catch them on your tongue. Right here in the District of Columbia. No one talks about that very much do they? I suppose it happens more frequently than we visitors realize. For me, this is a romantic vision that turns on my imagination. Cant you see Ali McGraw and Ryan o’neil in a love story walking hand in hand sitting on a park bench and faces turned up, snowflakes falling. It’s poetic stuff. And here it is the rehearsals with airmen of note and strings; high poetry itself.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air….



Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.

Where never lark, or even eagle flew —

And, while with silent lifting mind I have trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
 –
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee jr., Pilot Officer, Royal Canadian Air Force.

I love that poem so much that I borrowed the last line for the bridge of “Mornin’”, a real high point. The poet of that piece was in the Air Force during WWII, and perished in flight.

This is my second year in a row with the Airmen of Note. I’m really proud of that. Last time we sold out at George Washington University’s Listner Hall. And this time we appeared at the fabulous DAR Constitution Hall. It was a sell out. I have friends and family in DC since the first days of, “We Got By.” When I mentioned the Childe Harold, these people scream and go crazy. The Childe Harold was the big living room in an old mansion where I did my first dates in Washington DC. The Capital Jazz Fest and Merriweather Post are relative newcomer venues… Wonderful! And boy what fabulous times at Wolf Trap. It has been a wonderful 37-year history. Thank you DC.

General McDew (the commander of the Washington DC Air Wing that has constant jet airplane security patrol flying over Washington DC) blew my mind when he came back stage. And greeted me with a hug and a smile, lookin’ like the presidents cousin. And saying “thank you” to me.

Wow! Several times, probably too many, I said thank you to our military people who serve and protect. My heart and soul are in this music that I do. And I gave it to them tonight. We shared it, and acknowledged our love for music and country… Together. That is very special to me. To be invited to sing with the air force band/orchestra in the very first place is… You tell me the word. How about over the moon?

Monday morning breakfast with Pete and Donna and Paige and Brian. Silver golden halos in my mind around that breakfast table when I think of it. Pete and Donna are old friends from Ripon College, and the Indigos singing quartet. Pete is a Professor Emeritus of Engineering in the Computer Science program at George Washington. And Donna is a counseling psychologist.

Tech sergeant Paige Martin, singer extraordinaire, who can easily share the stage with any singer in the world, joined us for breakfast. She is a fantastic singer who should be heard all over the world. We promised each other we’d sing together again soon. Thank you Washington DC area and Airmen of Note. We did it again.

And a special thanks to the lady in white in the front row who was texting her girlfriend something about me… I hope. Anyway, she gave the evening such a light-hearted air when she was a such a good sport about my stopping and asking her what she was doing in the middle of a song, as the orchestra kept playing. That was fun. Ok ya’ll I’ll see ya later.

Share :

Hilton Americas – Houston

Happy New Year to all of you long time friends and family, and new friends to be. And a very special Happy New Years wish and congratulations to Legacy Community Health Services of Houston, since early 1980’s, where we played last Saturday night January 20th. I’m personally claiming this event as my New Years Eve celebration with all the accompanying resolutions. Susan came with me for this weekend gala and quietly told me how she cried when she saw people dancing to “After All,” “Boogie Down,” and “Roof Garden.” After all these years! That speaks volumes and implies so many satisfactions about this work I’ve been doing for such a long time and my wishes for the future.

Saturday night was a great big beautiful black tie formal affair with dinner and champagne. All to benefit the Legacy Community Health Services organization. And all of it set in motion by my bass player Chris Walker and his brother Ernest who have been involved with Legacy and other community outreach organizations for years. AS A MATTER OF FACT.

Let me just coin a new phrase called “enlightened democratic capitalism,” which implies a new and broader awareness of America’s economic circumstances and needs that determine how we decide to protect and take care of all of our people. Let me summarize the conclusions of this thinking. If Washington doesn’t keep in place the safety net for all of us, especially the forgotten and underserved, and exponentially growing number, then we citizens must take care of each other. We’ll need to form new organizations that feed and shelter and heal one another. The next needy person could be your brother.

How about that for a New Years Eve Greeting? Oops!!! Once again, Houston, the bayou city that just a few short years ago stood tall and welcomed Katrina victims, stood up again as they have since the early 80’s, and supported Legacy Community Health Services.

Share :

MILAN

Checco Zalone. Network television show. Flash bam alacazam! We’re arriving in Milan, Italy to do, “Spain,” with a wild and brilliant TV personality who graduated from law school and plays great jazz piano. He also sings and does great comedy bits.

We accepted the invitation with happiness and enthusiasm. This is another opportunity to stay in touch with our Italian audience, like last Christmas time, when I sang in the Concerto de Natale Malta. I met Mario Biondi on that occasion, and later recorded a duet with him… soon to be released. Of course, the song that I recorded with Deodato, which is still running high on the smooth jazz charts, is part of this same push. But this thing is different, still. I am actually being comedic with several lines all delivered in Italian. My jaw hit the floor when I discovered this surprise in our preliminary organizational meeting. I was like Fuggetaboutit. Ciao bello, ciao tutte. Where’s my hat… Well I did it. And inside of the bit I sang, “Spain,” with Checco and the studio band; really good band.

My appearance was a surprise for the studio audience and will also be for viewers at home.

Good job to my manager, Joe Gordon, You cuddled and coddled this baby from the start, and this is sure to be a very important facet of our whole “Back to Italian” adventure. We met some beautiful people.

Every time I involve myself in special projects like this (television people, radio people, fundraisers, charities) I come away with beautiful pictures in my head of the folks I met. Great to see Antonello, our promoter, from way back when, and his colleague, Antonella. You should have seen Youma: Six-foot three or six-foot four gorgeous model with black skin and classique features. Special thanks to Mario for leading us around by the hand, and helping us all day long.

With a very deep bow of congratulations I want to thank Checco Zalone and the whole staff on a brilliant production. Checco is amazing. Call me anytime.

Love Al

Share :