Finding these vintage 1976 live films of a highly inspired Al Jarreau is reason for celebration. These are legacy gems from an era of greatness for Warner Bros. Records and producers of the record, Al Schmitt and Tommy LiPuma.
The album was titled "Look To The Rainbow: Live in Europe". This album can take a long time to explore with all of it's intricacies. It sounds great turned up loud.
When it was released in 1977, my mom bought the 2 record set on vinyl, the songs of which were pulled from these 1976 filmed performances featured below. We must have played these vinyl records hundreds of times. I was exposed to all kinds of music, but this record was really different. It was a style of jazz that felt really fresh. Had never heard anybody scat sing like this, blending lyrics and scat with such fluid soul backed by a super burning jazz groove band. It's an amazingly big sound for just three players: Tom Canning on keys, Nigel Wilkinson on drums and Jermome Rimson on bass guitar.
The films below were shot with the audio beautifully recorded in front of a live audience in Hamburg, Germany in 1976.
One of the most popular songs on the record was Jarreau's unique version of the Paul Desmond classic, Take 5, that was already made famous by The Dave Brubeck Quartet on their 1959 album Time Out. Jarreau's take on the song was a major departure, like a blast off to another planet. Be patient, the song does not really take off until the 2:20 point of the first video below. One of my favorite songs is the sixth one down the list, titled You Don't See Me. But every single one of these is fantastic.
Al Jarreau - Take Five (live)
Al Jarreau - Letter Perfect
Al Jarreau - We Got By
Al Jarreau - Lock All The Gates
Al Jarreau - Your Song
Connect direct with Al Jarreau at AlJarreau.Com
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