Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away (1981)

The late Al Jarreau is sometimes thought of as a jazz singer who went pop, but his commercial breakthrough LP, Breakin' Away, defines him as a jazz singer who brought elements of the revered form back to pop.  Breakin' Away, released in the relatively dormant early eighties, is a bright, energetic album that shows Jarreau's deft handling of heartfelt ballads, bebop-influenced stylings, and  some effervescent, breezy soul.  It more than makes the case for Jarreau's popularity and his place in jazz overall.

The worst thing that can be said about Breakin' Away is its clean, almost antiseptic sound.  Producer Jay Graydon delivered an overall polish to the music that not only typified MOR of the late seventies and early eighties but portended what would later be derived as "smooth jazz," and smooth is exactly how Breakin' Away goes down.  But this is Al Jarreau we're talking about; with anyone else at the mic, Graydon (who co-wrote many of the songs on Breakin' Away with Jarreau and Tom Canning) could have produced a pleasant but bland MOR album, but Jarreau was a singer who could enliven the most mannered and the most homogenized sound possible.  Thanks to his backing musicians on Breakin' Away - who included guitarist Dean Parks, bassist Abraham Laboriel, drummer Steve Gadd, and George Duke on Fender Rhodes organ - the music was much more engaging, whether on a pulsating song like "Closer To Your Love" or the LP's big hit pop ballad "We're In this Love Together."  These session men brought to this album as much dedication to jazz and fusion as the precision and virtuosity they also brought.

Jarreau revels in the center of it all here, delivering a strong, commanding voice on the funkier numbers on this record - from the aforementioned "Closer To Your Love" to the wonderful scat improvisations on "Easy" and the somewhat urbane but fun "Roof Garden," a masterpiece hybrid of traditional jazz and straight funk.  On this record, he makes the effort to find the romance and the warmth in even the slightest song, such as "Our Love," which would be forgettable if not for Jarreau's solid delivery, and his falsetto on the transcendent title track is breathtaking.

Jarreau's best moments on Breakin' Away are on the last two tracks.  He shows his obvious love for the possibilities of jazz on a sharp, funky take on Dave Brubeck's "(Round, Round, Round) Blue Rondo à la Turk" with a manic wave of scatting that, to quote critic Mikal Gilmore, swings "with the dexterity of a lumberjack" (part of Jarreau's charm, actually).  But it's his velvety, deeply intense vocal on the album's closer, a cover of the 1953 standard "Teach Me Tonight," that firmly settles the argument for Jarreau's jazz sensibilities.  He captures the essence and the feel of jazz balladeering associated with greats like Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, and it's the definitive version of the song, hands-down.  And that's precisely how the greatness of a singer like Jarreau is established - when he makes a familiar song his very own.  

Music Video Of the Week - February 24, 2017

"We're In This Love Together" by Al Jarreau (Go to the link in the upper-right-hand corner.)

Breakin' Away

Al Jarreau, who died this past Sunday, was a singer who helped popularize jazz and brought a breezy, effortless style to his own records.  While his signature song, "We're In This Love Together," the hit single from his 1981 album Breakin' Away, might be heard as the very definition of early-eighties MOR, right down to its saxophone solo, the song showed that Jarreau's subtle phrasing and his earthy sensibility were very much in the jazz tradition.  He brought that same dexterous and clever vocal delivery to bear on other worthwhile songs such as "After All" and "Trouble In Paradise," as well as on his cover of the standard "Teach Me Tonight."

Even Jarreau's 1983 hit "Mornin'", possibly one of the silliest songs ever written - the lyrics find Jarreau saying good morning to his kitchen radio and his breakfast - shows his precise enunciation and his impeccable range.  When he sang on that record about how he could reach out and touch the face of God, his voice reaches a moment of transcendence few if any of his peers could reach.  In fact, of all the eighties pop singers rooted in jazz (and there weren't that many of them), only Anita Baker, who recently announced her retirement (ironically, Jarreau had announced his own retirement from touring a couple of days before his death) was in his league.

It seems poignant that Al Jarreau died on the night the 2017 Grammy Awards were presented, as he had been the recipient of seven such awards.  The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) certainly recognized his awesome talent, though when pop critic Robert Christgau called Jarreau "NARAS's idea of a jazz singer" and meant it as a calculated insult, he failed to realize what it was about Jarreau's abilities that made his music such a wonderful idea to contemplate.  RIP. :-(