Life & Work

Celebrate Al Jarreau’s jazz at Tamambo this weekend

bdmusicAlJarreauh

Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is an American jazz singer. Photo/Billi Odidi

He is a legendary fusion performer whose style easily crosses over between several genres and the only artist in history to have won seven Grammy Awards across three different categories: jazz, pop and R&B.

There are many reasons why music fans should be licking their lips at the prospect of an evening of songs by Al Jarreau, the artist Time magazine called ‘the greatest jazz singer alive.’

This weekend, Nairobi’s most prolific jazz band, led by the veteran guitarist Matthew “Danger” Shitakha will host an evening playing their versions of songs recorded in a career of more than 40 years by American singer and producer Al Jarreau. It is dubbed an “An evening of Al Jarreau” with Danger and Friends featuring guest singer Victor Muli at Tamambo Village Market, Gigiri, tomorrow, Saturday July 26 from 8.30 pm.

Born in March 1940, Alwin Lopez Jarreau was not always destined to become a musician; he excelled in sports and obtained a Master’s Degree in Vocational Rehabilitation.

In the late 1960s, he started performing at a small jazz club with a trio headed by George Duke, who was to become a lifelong friend and music collaborator. The giant label, Warner Bros. Records came calling with his first recording contract in 1975.

Al Jarreau won his first Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for the album, “Look to the Rainbow” and the next decade saw his career flourish earning him international acclaim with a string of R&B and pop hits. Many people of a certain generation will have fond memories of the album “Breaking Away in 1981 that contained the classic “We’re In This Love Together.”

There were also foot stomping hits like “Boogie Down” from 1983, a song that is still guaranteed to set any dance floor alight to this day and that other all-time favourite, “Morning.”

Grammy nomination

Just like another great jazz-pop vocalist of his generation, George Benson, with whom he recorded a joint album in 2006, Jarreau is renowned for scat singing, a style of vocal improvisation to imitate guitar, bass percussion.

At the height of his fame in the 1980s, Al Jarreau and his peers like Benson and George Duke were at the forefront of jazz singers who made the crossover into mainstream pop and R&B and were a constant presence on radio during that decade

Older television viewers in Kenya will remember the hit television series Moonlighting, starring a young Bruce Willis. Not many knew at the time that the theme song for that programme also titled “Moonlighting” was performed by Al Jarreau, earned him a Grammy nomination and has remained one of the highlights of his repertoire.

While still touring and recording and touring well into his 70s, Jarreau has also embraced an acting career appearing on stage with the Broadway musical Grease! and cameos on shows like New York Undercover and Touched by An Angel.

This tribute to his music could not have come at a better time because Al Jarreau has just released an album of new recordings titled “My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke.” As the title suggests, the album is a homage to Duke, who died in August 2013.

The album released on June 17th features collaborations with big hitters like bassist Marcus Miller, saxophonists Gerald Albright and Boney James, and vocalists like Lalah Hathaway, Jeffrey Osborne and Kelly Price.

The association between Jarreau and Duke goes back to earliest days of the latter’s music career and in later years, Duke played piano on many of the successful albums by Al Jarreau.

Danger and his band pull jazz lovers every Saturday night to the Tamambo Tapas Bar, on the top floor of The Village Market in Nairobi. The outdoor terrace letting in the evening breeze provides the perfect setting for the tight jazz rhythms from this group of seasoned artistes.

The evening of Al Jarreau is part of the weekly series of thematic performances that feature the works of jazz icons and improvisations of songs from other genres. You can certainly look forward to a night of catchy riffs, superb singing by guest vocalist, Victor Muli, who is well-known on the Nairobi live music circuit.