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Al Jarreau-Accentuate The Positive

Al Jarreau is back! With a vengeance!! Did he go somewhere? Well, he went exploring and genre skipping, creating some pop hits and some tasty RnB ballads. He even got new-wavey in the 80s, remixed in the 90s and smooth jazzed in the 21st century. Meanwhile, there was always a slender thread leading back to his jazzier, more improvisational and vocally stunning early career recordings. It was on the back burner though: vocal chops compressed between verses, an original lyric that took your breath away buried 7 tracks deep, a little funky attitude on a song here and there. "Accentuate the Positive" returns to the stylistic territory of "Look To The Rainbow" but it isn�t a throwback. Almost 30 years of changing, growing, living, learning, and personal and creative evolution have been added to the mix. This is far more than Al finally doing jazz, the beauty of this CD is that it is Al really doing Al.

"Accentuate The Positive" reunites Jarreau with producer Tommy LiPuma and studio wizard Al Schmitt. Schmitt produced Al�s 1975 debut, LiPuma produced the two albums that followed. They brought in some of the finest and most innovative musicians on the current jazz scene, put together a stunning assortment of jazz standards, classic American popular songs, and Jarreau originals, added lyrics where they needed them and let it roll. Recording was done live in the studio, mostly with a quartet. There are no overdubs, backup vocals, string sections, or high tech embellishments. Just the singer, a small group of musicians and the songs. This is Live Jazz, pure and simple. But it�s not the kind of jazz you put on a pedestal to analyze and admire. This is jazz that is accessible, entertaining, and emotionally engaging. Never has music of this quality been so s/neaky. You�re hooked by the voice, the expressiveness, and the beauty of the arrangements before intimidation can set in.

Fun, fast, and funky is where it starts, with Al adding lyrics and some joyous scatting to Eddie Harris� "Cold Duck". The next 4 songs are perfectly sequenced. Jarreau has always been a master at giving us love songs from an adult perspective. This time he takes 4 gems from another era, showing that the finest love songs for grownups are timeless. Every vocal nuance in "The Nearness Of You" evokes intimacy, then just when you are captivated here comes an emphatic and bouncy "No! Never!!" underscored by a Hammond B3. It�s the first line of "I�m Beginning To See The Light", the classic song about trying to reason your way out of falling in love. An elegant bossa nova tinged arrangement of "My Foolish Heart" then segues into the lyrical imagery of "Midnight Sun".

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer may have written "Accentuate The Positive" but Jarreau reinvents it and makes it his own. This is the essence of the message he has been sharing with concert audiences for years, delivered with the vocal pyrotechnics that make his live shows such a thrill. The other uptempo songs, "Groovin� High" and "Scootcha Booty", not only showcase percussive vocals and no holds barred scatting, they have lyrics that are, as we say in the south, "a hoot". A hoot with a deeper meaning, though. Listen close while you bob your head. "Lotus", a Jarreau lyric set to Don Grolnick�s melody, is fragile and meditative, a song about finding sacred space within. Perfectly placed after "Groovin� High" invites you to "be quiet and listen" so you�ll know it�s there. "Betty" is a tribute to Betty Carter, written by Jarreau and Freddie Ravel. This is what Jarreau does best, lyrics that inspire imagination with playful imagery and let the listener fill in the spaces.

Obviously this CD is a vocal showcase but the backup musicians are stellar. From the first song on they get to show their stuff. Keith Anderson tears it up on Sax in "Cold Duck" and sounds like a one man Big Band in "Accentuate the Positive". Larry Goldings� sizzling B3 solo in "Beginning to See the Light" borders on flat out raunchy. Guitarist Anthony Wilson has one bright moment after another and if you have wood floors in your house you can even feel Christian McBride�s bass. Larry Williams plays keyboards and did the arrangements. He can raise goosebumps with just one chord. Tollak Ollestad�s harmonica on "Midnight Sun" practically generates heat. The arrangements are perfect, so uncluttered you can hear every note and every note can create a mood. That�s the magic of this project vocally and instrumentally.

In Lisa Tucker�s novel "The Song Reader" one of the characters speaks of music that lets you slip past the things you think you know and wish you believed, and get to the heart of who you really are. With "Accentuate the Positive" Al Jarreau has given us music that will do just that. So "Scootcha-Booty" to your favorite CD store, take this one home, play it often and let it take you where it will....