Al Jarreau | My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke

Al Jarreau – My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke
(Concord Records)
Album reflection by A. Scott Galloway

Al Jarreau’s tribute to George Duke, his longtime friend and one-time partner on the jazz club stages of San Francisco, has been one of 2014’s most anticipated CDs. The eclectic project – with three sets of producers – works best when Cousin Al is pushing his creative envelope or indisputably touched with pure raw sentimentality. It falters when inspiration is running low…something Duke rarely fell prey to when he was gracing the planet with his musical mastery. Here’s how it shakes out to me – a diehard fan of both Jarreau and Duke since the mid `70s.

Things start off wistful, nostalgic but not particularly scintillating with “My Old Friend,” a song Jarreau first recorded on his 1980 LP Breakin’ Away that has long been a fan favorite. Gerald Albright’s sax solo is a highlight but Jarreau’s vocal and especially the repetitive closing chorus do not measure up to a classic that any artist would be hard-pressed to top – apparently even the originator himself.

“Someday” is a song Duke recorded solo several times, the first being the best on his pivotal 1975 Lp, I Love the Blues, She Heard My Cry. While John Beasley’s keyboard solo harnesses the “Spirit of the Dukey,” edits to the arrangement (apparently to save the more mature singers’ breaths) clip some of the dynamism of the song. Now sung as a duet between Jarreau and Dianne Reeves, the crucial elements of spontaneity and chemistry are lacking, making for vocals that wax more like a laidback run through than a take for final print.

Things improve exponentially with the first of the CD’s deeply Duke-worthy pieces that expand upon an already great original. “Churchyheart (Backyard Ritual)” is an aural wonder that finds Jarreau lyricizing an instrumental that Duke composed and produced for the great Miles Davis (for his classic 1985 LP, Tutu), vocalese-ing, scatting and rapping over co-producer Marcus Miller’s funky bass and bass clarinet ambience. Though not as definitive as Jarreau’s lyrical take on Joe Zawinul’s “A Remark You Made” (rewritten as “Something That You Said”) from over a decade ago, this should still be nominated for a Grammy on its own.

This drops into another highlight in “Somebossa (Summer Breezin’),” the first of two nods to Duke’s ongoing love affair with the music, culture and vibration of Brazil. Jarreau floats effortlessly on the lilting melody singing engaging lyrics such as “Lord, I love some bossa / They put it in a wedding song / And pretty soon I heard my own children sing…” leading into a tasty Gerald Albright solo on alto sax that, if it were chicken, would have you lickin’ all ten fingers.

What can you say about Jarreau paired with Lalah Hathaway working her low end vocal magic on “Sweet Baby,” the Top 10 smash that Duke enjoyed with partner Stanley Clarke in 1981 (Clarke co-produced this remake with John Burk). Lalah audibly adores this song from her youth and Jarreau joins her in harmonious matrimony that is heart-stilling (with tight backgrounds by Patrick Lundquist). The subtle harmonic changes add just enough freshness to this well-known gem to give it a cinematic flourish in tribute.

Jeffrey Osborne lends his robust voice to the choral feel of an autobiographical medley of Clarke/Duke’s “Every Reason to Smile” with Osborne’s own “Wings of Love,” but Kelly Price’s guest spot on a remake of the jazzy blues “No Rhyme, No Reason” simply comes nowhere near the emotiveness of Duke and Rachelle Ferrell on the classic original. This Boney James production could have been left off of the disc altogether. James fares far better producing and playing the primarily instrumental “Bring Me Joy” which features posthumously released keyboards and composition from Duke himself over which Boney and Jarreau adds sensual Quiet Storm tones of deep amour.

Next it’s back to Rio come Carnival time with the scintillating acoustic fusion piece “Brazilian Love Affair” in a medley with the sing-a-long “Up From The Sea It Arose And Ate Rio In One Swift Bite” (a toned down flip clearly from the Maurice Sendak side of Duke’s compositional imagination) which features some spirited playing from the all-star band of Patrice Rushen, Paul Jackson Jr., Stanley Clarke, John Robinson, Lenny Castro and returning Dianne Reeves.

The CD closes with another left-field highlight that tones nothing down as the great Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack takes us all the way to some Nawlins den of iniquity for a duet with Jarreau on Duke’s “You Touch My Brain” featuring John Beasley playing some wicked wee hours organ and Jubu on some late night beggin’ guitar…mercy (or as Duke would have exclaimed, “Oh, my dear”).

5 home runs out of 10 does not make a grand slam…but the high points are so high that fans of Duke and Jarreau will still want this tribute for their collection.

– A. Scott Galloway
Music Editor
The Urban Music Scene