BOLD DREAMS
Jazz star Al Jarreau began as a social worker before being swept up by music
Best known for the smooth-jazz smash ‘We’re In This Love Together’ — also the theme to 1980s-era TV dramedy Moonlighting, starring a thenunknown Bruce Willis — singer Al Jarreau is delight distilled, alternately crooning and speaking as he discusses his remarkable life. Jarreau has plenty to be chuffed about: 2015 not only marks the 50th anniversary of his debut album, it also sees the California-based singer hopscotching across the globe playing ecstatically received gigs. Not bad for a guy who turned 75 last March.
How did you make the bold choice to become a jazz musician?
“I really had no choice, since I have been certifiably crazy since I was four or five years old! I sat on the piano bench next to my mom, who played for the church choir. It really began that early for me. It was in my DNA. Plus, I had older siblings playing music all the time. So it was a given.”
What gave you the courage to pursue it?
“I fell into jazz because my older brothers and sisters were into jazz. It was the music of the day in the 1940s when I grew up. I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan. [Starts singing Lionel Hampton’s ‘Midnight Sun.’] I didn’t know kids weren’t supposed to sing that song with all those strange intervals. It was just there and part of me and I had to do this odd music called jazz, which is the most wonderful stuff in the world.”
What were the biggest obstacles?
“Probably schooling. I did a master’s program in rehabilitation counselling and worked as a social worker during those early days when I played with George Duke in San Francisco at the Half Note Club. That’s what I wanted to do: help people and sing. And honestly, I got lucky with music. I mean, I was singing jazz in the Haight-Ashbury, and swimming upstream from where Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were playing. It was a time of cultural revolution led by young people and I was right there smelling the dope and the patchouli oil [laughs]. I wasn’t wearing the bellbottoms but, in my shirt and tie down the street, I was counselling the hippies when they came in all strung out! And singing nights with the George Duke Trio.”
Who are your mentors?
“My brothers and sisters, mainly, and my mom. It was from one of my brothers that I got into social work. And of course, the music I was hearing all around me at the time.”
What is the best advice you didn’t take?
“That’s a tough one. It was suggested to me that I go and talk to Motown, which I didn’t do. I also did not take the advice to imitate Elvis Presley or Chuck Berry or Little Richard or James Brown, even though that was on the radio. But that advice was all around me.”
What is your favourite song to perform?
“Well, I’ll tell you what’s been a favourite in the last six or eight years: ‘Midnight Sun.’ Written by Lionel Hampton and performed by any number of people. It’s this ballad-y kind of song — the one I sang to you earlier. It’s always been a fun piece of music to sing because of how the melody sits inside and travels through those chord progressions. If you get it right, it lays out a wonderful story for the listener. And people are always so surprised to hear it. Part of the joy of singing is watching how people react to a piece of music. And people always react positively to that song.”
Which album of yours would you put in a time capsule?
“Probably one of my compilation records, like The Very Best of Al Jarreau: An Excellent Adventure [from 2009]. It has a collection of various kinds of things that I do, with songs like ‘Spain,’ which is jazz, and ‘Boogie Down,’ which is an R&B song that people love shaking their booty to. Those are the extremes I love in my life.”
What do you love about playing Toronto?
“It’s made such a wonderful home for this music. And jazz must be happening a lot, even when we are not there for this festival. But I’ve played Canada for ages and have very fond memories. What’s that city with the rodeo? Calgary! I opened for Canned Heat and Steppenwolf there back in 1969 or ’70. Oh man. Crazy days. I sometimes feel I should be better serving my Canadian audience. I should be there eight times a year. But you can’t invite yourself, so I’m hoping for an invitation!”
Al Jarreau was one of the many jazz greats to play the TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2015, which ends June 29 with performances at venues across the city.