A Quote by Al Jarreau

There's a wonderful tradition of jazz people getting on stage and jamming and finding some feeling for music with audiences who may be fresh. For others, it might be just like a comfortable shirt they've been wearing.
The way that we imitate each others' riffs is something that other bands don't do as much. If we're jamming with a jazz band, or I am jamming with a jazz band, I have to catch myself, the tendency is always to do that.
I don't know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I'm not putting jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer...I've recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I'm either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can't sing a blues โ€“ just a right-out blues โ€“ but I can put the blues in whatever I sing. I might sing 'Send In the Clowns' and I might stick a little bluesy part in it, or any song. What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music.
My audiences are generally mixed. Some people like techno, others are into the pop music, and others enjoy my film music.
That's one of the cool things about going to local bars: seeing what people are doing and jamming with them. I'm a huge advocate of jamming with others; you learn a lot. So I love to go and do that - even if people wipe the stage up with you.
I like wearing fitted jackets mixed with jeans, a button-down shirt and a tie. I like to keep the rock and roll feel but class it up a bit. As far as stage clothes, I prefer John Varvatos and All Saints. They have clothing that is really accessible for wearing every day as well as for wearing on stage. I also love J. Lindeberg's suits.
It seems all worlds of music - rock, blues, R&B, soul, hip-hop and others - are able to point to impromptu get-togethers as proud moments in their timelines, encounters that were recorded and created music of lasting impression. In the jazz tradition, there are a few, but none that has been revered for as long as Jazz at Massey Hall.
I really don't like getting dressed up. It's a lot more comfortable to be in some type of T-shirt or dry-fit shirt and shorts. That's pretty much my typical attire.
The average age of the Jazz audience is increasing rapidly. Rapidly enough to suggest that there is no replacement among young people. Young people aren't starting to listen to Jazz and carrying it along in their lives with them. Jazz is becoming more like Classical music in terms of its relationship to the audience. And just a Classical music is grappling with the problem of audience development, so is Jazz grappling with this problem. I believe, deeply that Jazz is still a very vital music that has much to say to ordinary people. But it has to be systematic about getting out the message.
I might not wear chains or I may just wear a watch or I may not wear any jewelry at all or I may just go all out on an outfit or just rock some basic s*** just a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and ones. But, I still standout more than a lot of people in the room so I can't really describe it but I know from the outside looking in people can explain better than I can.
You figure out how to create opportunities to make music, and then, if you take care of the music, audiences will come around. They also might leave. What matters is the moment: the moment of making music, with and for and among others, and what that offers to those people in that moment. They might never see me again; they might never learn my name. But it might still be something they carry with them.
You cannot be fresh and feeling fine, wearing a washed vest under an unwashed shirt; or, an unwashed vest over a washed shirt. Both have to be clean, to provide a sense of tingling joy. So too outer and inner cleanliness is but the reflection of the inner achievement.
There's nothing terribly wrong with feeling lost, so long as that feeling precedes some plan on your part to actually do something about it. Too often a person grows complacent with their disillusionment, perpetually wearing their "discomfort" like a favorite shirt.
Finding someone you love and who loves you back is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. But finding a true soul mate is an even better feeling. A soul mate is someone who understands you like no other, loves you like no other, will be there for you forever, no matter what. They say that nothing lasts forever, but I am a firm believer in the fact that for some, love lives on even after we're gone.
It never mattered to me that people in school didn't think that country music was cool, and they made fun of me for it - though it did matter to me that I was not wearing the clothes that everybody was wearing at that moment. But at some point, I was just like, 'I like wearing sundresses and cowboy boots.'
If I'm not feeling so hot during the day - maybe I couldn't sleep, and the kids are wearing me out, and I'm not feeling very cute - I might go and curl my hair and put on some lipstick and put some fun music on. And that builds my confidence. It's the small things. You have to find out what works for you.
I have a political aversion to blue jeans. I'm biased against them. I really am. I've been forced over the course of my life, I have been forced by certain people to try a pair of jeans. So I've gone and I've tried 'em on, and I hate 'em. They're not comfortable. They just are not comfortable. I hate wearing anything that makes me feel like I have it on, and blue jeans make me feel like I'm wearing burlap.
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