Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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The only vocalist in history to net Grammy Awards in three different categories (jazz, pop, and R&B, respectively), Al Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 12, 1940. The son of a vicar, he earned his first performing experience singing in the church choir. After receiving his master's degree in psychology, Jarreau pursued a career as a social worker, but eventually he decided to relocate to Los Angeles and try his hand in show business, playing small clubs throughout the West Coast.

He recorded an LP in the mid-'60s, but largely remained an unknown, not reentering the studio for another decade. Upon signing to Reprise, Jarreau resurfaced in 1975 with We Got By, earning acclaim for his sophisticated brand of vocalese and winning positive comparison to the likes of Billy Eckstine and Johnny Mathis. After 1976's Glow, Jarreau issued the following year's Look to the Rainbow, a two-disc live set that reached the Top 50 on the U.S. album charts. With 1981's Breakin' Away, he entered the Top Ten, scoring a pair of hits with "We're in This Love Together" and the title track. After recording 1986's L Is for Lover with producer Nile Rodgers, Jarreau scored a hit with the theme to the popular television program Moonlighting, but his mainstream pop success was on the wane, and subsequent efforts like 1992's Heaven and Earth and 1994's Tenderness found greater success with adult contemporary audiences.

A string of budget compilations and original albums hit the shelves at the end of the decade, but into the turn of the century his original output slowed down. That was until he signed with the Verve/GRP label in 1998 and reunited with producer Tommy LiPuma. LiPuma had produced Jarreau's ostensible 1975 debut, We Got By, and the pairing seemed to reinvigorate Jarreau, who went on to release three stellar albums under LiPuma's guidance, including 2000's Tomorrow Today, 2002's All I Got, and 2004's Accentuate the Positive. Givin' It Up, recorded with George Benson and released in 2006, was nominated for three Grammy Awards – each one for a different song. Jarreau returned with his first ever full-length holiday-themed album, Christmas, in 2008. Four years later he offered a live recording, Al Jarreau and the Metropole Orkest: Live, performing alongside the Dutch ensemble.

Jason Ankeny, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Jarreau's best release, which shows him still improvising and interpreting.

Ron Wynn, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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This second album by Al Jarreau must be considered one of his best; along with his own compositions, there are some covers, such as "Your song" (Elton John) or the brasilian standard "Aqua de beber", both in two wonderful versions; "Fire and rain" in another cover (James Taylor), and it is a masterwork. This album is strongly suggested to everyone who wants to discover Al Jarreau's jazz side.

Alessandro Filippini, Amazon.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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With a restrained yet potent funk band and a few cameos from luminaries in the jazz world, Al Jarreau gets plenty of opportunities to wrap his rubbery, ever-changing timbre around an agreeable collection of tunes, the majority of which he wrote or co-wrote. Of the cover tunes, Jarreau completely transforms Kenny Loggins' "Wait a Little While," the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" and Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay" into personal vehicles for vocal acrobatics, and his own "Fly" revives his uncanny ability to skitter and sail along with a Brazilian-based rhythm track. Freddie Hubbard puts in a soulful guest appearance on flugelhorn on Dave Frishberg's "I'm Home" and applies a more outgoing obligato to "Fly"; Lee Ritenour and Paulinho Da Costa also make appearances on the record. While Jarreau could still be technically classified as a jazz singer at this point, he is really inhabiting a zone of his own.

Richard S. Ginell, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau finally found success in the U.S. after 1975's We Got By. The later albums that followed ,like 1977's live Look to the Rainbow and 1978's All Fly Home found him attaining the all-important cult status and accolades from the jazz community. Those facts made his switch to pop/R&B on This Time even more surprising. For This Time, Jarreau is paired with producer Jay Graydon. Despite his jazz credentials, This Time does prove that this style is where Jarreau truly prospers. The jittery "Never Give It Up" and the melodic and pensive "Gimme What You Got" have a crisp and refined L.A. sound, and Jarreau gives the songs weight with his methodical yet playful vocals. In the same vein, the poignantly sung and arranged "Your Sweet Love" displays Jarreau's gift of ringing emotion where you'd least expect it. Jarreau also adds deft lyrics to jazz standards "(A Rhyme) This Time" and "(I Can Recall) Spain." The best song to bridge the gap between the two incarnations, "Alonzo," is strikingly beautiful and has Jarreau nearly reaching operatic heights. During its release, This Time was stunning for its fresh sound and a sense of warmth. Upon repeated plays, those attributes still ring true.

Jason Elias, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Released in 1981, Breakin' Away is not only a great follow-up to This Time, it all but perfected the effort. With an amazing batch of songs, producer/artist chemistry, and top-level players, Breakin' Away became the standard bearer of the L.A. pop and R&B sound. "Closer to Your Love" comes off as a tougher, more confident version of the songs from the previous album. However, in short order, Breakin' Away assumes its own identity with brilliant results. Everything works so well here that the hit, the pleasing "We're in This Love Together," comes off as the weak link. "Easy," with its gorgeous and subtle Latin flourishes, has Jarreau's purposeful delivery coming off oddly poignant in its joy and beauty. The bittersweet "My Old Friend" has him giving a charming and understated reading with gorgeous synth signatures that speak volumes. Most of Breakin' Away has Jarreau in great spirits and giving one great performance after another, like the powerful and melody-rich title song. Like his best albums, this gives Jarreau plenty of room to exercise his chops. He struts through the funky and elegant "Roof Garden," and on the impressive "(Round, Round, Round) Blue Rondo a la Turk" he offers great scats and whimsical lyrics. For the final track, Jarreau brings new life to "Teach Me Tonight" and it has a sweeping, dreamy arrangement. Produced by Jay Graydon, Breakin' Away is a great album and informed a lot of Jarreau's subsequent efforts.

Jason Elias, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Having broken through into the pop Top Ten albums with producer Jay Graydon and Breakin' Away, Jarreau had found his commercial groove, and it was potent enough to sustain him at least through the eponymously titled follow-up album. Again, strong, often self-co-composed material, and catchy, radio-friendly arrangements with lots of synthesizers would be the strong suit of this album, front-loaded by two large-scale R&B hits, the cheery "Mornin'" and the footstomping "Boogie Down," that would be part of his concert repertoire forever more ("Save Me" is also in their league). The backing comes from a coterie of L.A. pros who kick in more energy than what one would normally expect; it must be the material that fired 'em up. In other words, this is a really good R&B album, almost a great one, with the one caveat being that Jarreau's unique vocal abilities aren't remotely challenged; this could conceivably have been cut by almost any skilled R&B singer.

Richard S. Ginell, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Though this album did not contain two of his most well-known radio hits, the classics "Mornin'" and "We're In This Love Together," this album is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of songs that those two songs might have sounded more at home on. Even without them, this album contains a number of notable songs of different styles. It has the bouncy, nicely stylized "Imagination," the gritty, bopping funk number "Sticky Wicket," and the beautiful adult contemporary hit "After All" which is very stylistically similar to Mornin' and We're In This Love Together. A must for any fan of adult contemporary pop-soul.

Glen Zimmerman, Amazon.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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While Al Jarreau's jazz following probably ignored this 1986 studio release in droves, they missed a gem, a perhaps surprisingly scintillating collaboration with one of the leading dance-music producer/guitarists of the time, Nile Rodgers (late of Chic). Not only did Rodgers and Jarreau assemble some strong tunes from many sources, Rodgers took advantage of Jarreau's rhythmic capabilities, for some of the material is too deliciously complicated for any old R&B soulster to pull off. Hear the way Jarreau brilliantly threads his way through the rhythmically complex hornet's nest of "Says" in English and French, or savor the sheer ecstatic energy of the chorus of "Pleasure" and the rapid-fire list of cities in the title track; this is first-class pop recordmaking. While the quality of material tails off in the second half of the program, the great tracks early on mark the aesthetic peak of Jarreau's R&B output of the '80s. Unfortunately, record buyers begged to differ, for other than the minor R&B hit single status of the title track, this album could not reverse AJ's sales slide.

Richard S. Ginell, Allmusic.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau is an amazing jazz vocalist, and "Heart's Horizon" is my personal favorite. I first bought it on cassette tape (back in the 90s!) and just wo' it out; had to buy it again on CD, liner notes and all. The songs are funky/sexy, romantic, compelling…

Once, on a road trip several years ago, I played the tape nonstop while driving up the Pacific Coast Highway towards a fateful encounter with the man who turned out to be my soul mate; songs like "One Way", "All or Nothing at All", "So Good"–even the painful reflections of "More Love" and "Pleasure over Pain"–helped set the mood for new beginnings and happy endings. We should've invited Al to the wedding.

It's all there–thoughtful lyrics, great arrangements, well-chosen vocalists. Enjoy!

P. Bristol Wright, Amazon.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Heaven and Earth (1992) was Jarreau's first release since 1988 and was a lot more R & B oriented than previous efforts. This was probably due in part to the producer/arranger Narada Michael Walden who was one of the hot producers (for Whitney Houston, among others) at the time.

The uptempo numbers - a Walden specialty - are the least impressive. The opener "What You Do To Me" is a fine dance track, but doesn't take advantage of Jarreau's immense vocal abilities, and the new jack swingin' "Blue Angel" and "Love Of My Life" would have both been better suited to any of the New Edition alumni.

Jarreau shines brightest on the ballads. The title track and the soaring "If I Break" melodically showcased the stylish sensitivity in his voice, with the single "It's Not Hard To Love You" and "Superfine Love" utilizing Jarreau's vocal gymnastics best of all. On the latter, the orchestrations are challenging enough to push Jarreau's voice toward its limit yet still allow it to remain in the forefront.

Jarreau concludes the album with his two-movement rendition of Miles Davis' "Blue In Green," with lyrics added by Jarreau and Frank Martin. On a jazz number like this, Jarreau proved that he was still peerless. Ultimately, Heaven and Earth was an admirable effort by Jarreau to create a contemporary sound while remaining true to his roots.

James E. Bagley, Amazon.com

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Al Jarreau - Albums Collection 1975-1994 (12CD)

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Rather than do a strictly studio or strictly live album next, Jarreau recorded a "live in the studio" affair before an invited audience – and this time he would not be bothered with the latest new mediocre R&B tunes. Spreading his net from the Gershwins through Lennon-McCartney to Jorge Ben, Elton John and himself, Jarreau assembled a core band that includes vets like Joe Sample, Steve Gadd, the late Eric Gale, and producer Marcus Miller and turned himself loose on the songs with a freedom that hasn't been heard extensively on his records since the '70s. As then, he transplants standards of whatever school into his own cross-genre idiom, squeezing his tone through the syllables and flashing his speed scatting. He produces some lovingly drawn-out reprises of "She's Leaving Home" and "We Got By," a semi-funk "Summertime" with echoes of Gil Evans in the horns, and fits into the rapid-fire "Mas Que Nada" in the Brazilian manner-born. Opera diva Kathleen Battle's breathless coloratura soprano makes for an odd, unsettling contrast with Jarreau's snake-like wanderings in "My Favorite Things" (the only track recorded at a separate session in New York; the others were cut in L.A.); Michael Brecker's tenor sax adds a third alien voice to the mix. Those who were first drawn to Jarreau from his live and recorded performances of the mid-'70s are going to like this CD – and this time, the new material ("Wait for the Magic," "Dinosaur") is not only interesting and thought-provoking, it makes good use of Jarreau's voice. As with Live In London, a home video of the sessions is available, but contains only ten tracks.

Richard S. Ginell, Allmusic.com