This week, we turn our spotlight on singer Al Jarreau, who's coming to St. Louis on Friday, February 13 to perform at the Fox Theatre. These two clips feature a couple of the signature songs from Jarreau's early albums on Warner Brothers that continue to be concert staples for him to this day.
Up top, the first video is a 1976 rendition of Paul Desmond's “Take Five" taken from a German TV broadcast. Jarreau, backed by Tom Canning on keyboards, Jerome Rimson on bass and Nigel Wilkinson on drums, is working free and loose here, and demonstrates a range of vocal techniques, from mouth percussion to keening lines that evoke a tenor sax.
Down below is a version of Chick Corea's “Spain," recorded in 1990 at the “Live Under The Sky" festival in Tokyo, Japan. Jarreau sings a straightforward version of the tune, and then hands it off to Joe Sample, who provides a nice Tyneresque solo on piano, and Steve Gadd, who whips things up on drums before Jarreau returns to reprise the head.
