Al Jarreau

Singer

1940-03-12 – 2017-02-12

Al Jarreau was an American singer known for his jazz, soul, and pop vocal style. He won multiple Grammy Awards across different categories.

Books by Al Jarreau

The Best Of Al Jarreau
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Quotes by Al Jarreau

Once you discover that you can, you must.
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Once you discover that you can, you must.
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I'm touched by the Beatles. I want some of the music I do to reflect that. Here I am. I love Sly Stone and James Brown and Stevie Wonder, and I want my music to reflect some of that. Here I am. I'm touched by Jon Hendricks. I want some of my music to reflect that. And when I write, you're going to hear it.
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I came along with that crowd of singer-songwriters who were able to make their own statements in such a personal way that it changed the industry: Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Sly and the Family Stone.
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I love Sly Stone and James Brown and Stevie Wonder, and I want my music to reflect some of that.
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The Metropole Orchestra is like Count Basie or Duke Ellington with strings... it's strings that swing. Strings that swing like Dizzy Gillespie... keep swinging, baby. And when you have all of that special excellence of the Metropole Orchestra, then your music just flies - it soars in a way that's really magical.
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Every good gospel singer you can hear is a scat singer; they're just using different syllables. There are a lot of jazz singers out there, and more coming out of the churches.
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I slept fourteen feet from a polka tavern as a kid growing up. I heard polkas all night long, people singing and drinking beers and having a great time. I know more polkas than Frankie Yancovic!
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That's Tommy, this great producer who comes in contact with people and must have a mental library of personnel who are great for this and great for that, and he brought this whole group of musicians to the project that I'd never worked with before.
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Al and Tommy and I sharing the biggest laugh because it was predicted by everything we did in the first three or four records in my career. It was predicted in the grooves that we would be here sometime later on down the road.
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I have been with the record company and Tommy was there doing records with other people.
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I've been saying for almost 20 years that I need to do a jazz project and it ought to be either big band or I should do some jazz songs with a trio or quartet.
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You pray for things and accept the blessings when they come, you know? And it is about how you talk to yourself and what you say morning, noon and night about what you want to happen in your life. Some folks call that creative visualization. Other people call it prayer. But it is about that message that you send out there to yourself.
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Music is such a balm. Always has been. It's such a heartbeat, like blood thrumming through the womb. That's why music appeals to people.
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I had five brothers and sisters. Four of them older, and some of them played instruments, and we would get together and have family recitals and raise money for the church. I belonged to a wonderful church community that encouraged me to sing.
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