Al Jarreau: Wow: Live at the Childe Harold

Al Jarreau gained nationwide recognition with the theme to the 1985 hit television show "Moonlighting," which starred Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis. He also had a chart-topping single "We're In This Love Together." Before he was a pop star, R&B singer, and a successful cross-over artist, Al Jarreau was the purest of jazz talents. He gained recognition with his breakthrough record Look To The Rainbow: Live In Europe (Warner Bros., 1977). Jarreau was part Jon Hendricks and part Sly Stone. He was Bobby McFerrin before there was a Bobby McFerrin with his vocal gymnastics and sound generator.

This discovered gem, recorded at the Washington, D.C. club "Childe Harold" on August 13, 1976, predated the singer's meteoric rise, yet had all the ingredients his fans would grow to love. Jarreau performs five songs we hear later on Look To The Rainbow. Each is fully formed and just as compelling. Opening with his composition "Letter Perfect," Jarreau is introduced by Tim Canning's electric piano before he dives bossa headfirst into a scatting word scrabble. Jarreau was a man of his time, covering and transforming James Taylor's "Fire And Rain" into a soul ballad and Leon Russell's "Rainbow In Your Eyes" into an exploration of his funky vocalese. His introduction to Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" is part-scat and part-stumbling story that opens with his sotto voice covering all the instruments. Once his backing players enter, he spins a rapid magnetic web of lyrics and voice that becomes just another instrument soloing.

He delves into some spiritual gospel sounds with "Lock All The Gates" and "Alladin's Lamp." There is a brief dip into Jon Hendricks' "Gimme That Wine" and a cover of Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings" composed for the Count Basie band. Jarreau, snapping fingers, pays tribute to his vocal elders, singing in the tradition of Hendricks and Ella Fitzgerald. He finishes the set with two tunes that became classics: "You Don't See Me" and "We Got By." Here, Jarreau foretells his future as a Grammy winner in the jazz, pop, and R&B categories.