Al Jarreau - Tomorrow Today (1999)

Al Jarreau has one of music's great voices, a blend of silky highs and a warmly resonant midrange that's absolutely his own, and he's used it to great effect in the past with hits like "After All" and "We're in This Love Together." On his first studio recording since 1994's Tenderness, Jarreau continues to blur the lines between R&B, jazz, and pop. His skill with romantic ballads is reinforced from the outset with "Just to Be Loved" and "Let Me Love You," and the theme continues later in a soaring duet with Vanessa Williams on "God's Gift to the World." But Jarreau is never stuck in one groove. There are great funk tracks here, like the insinuating "In My Music" and "It's How You Say It," a slow groove that gives full play to his different voices. His jazz roots are apparent, too. The title track is a party of explosive Afro-Cuban beats, and "Something That You Said" is a vocal transformation of Weather Report's classic "A Remark You Made," with added details from Rick Braun's trumpet. The last track, "Puddit," is Jarreau at his most playful, an unaccompanied rendition of a Joe Sample tune with the singer clapping time to his own witty lyrics. Tomorrow Today is a perfect balance of Jarreau's soulful depths and wide-ranging creativity.