A biography for Al Jarreauhasn’t been written yet.
“I've thought about doing it as soon as it is possible with this new CD getting some wings and getting out there. I don't know how soon that will be.”
“Once you discover that you can, then you must. And it's not easy. You have to take direct steps. You really have to count your blessings and you have to make a decided effort to not get seduced by the blues.”
“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.”
“It's a wonderful thing to have life and to look at all this creation and say thank you. I even say it on stage.”
“I'm an R&B and pop singer as well as a jazzer.”
“I have this image in my head of me in the house I grew up in, and hearing this incredible music on the television show, going over to it, and there's Jon Hendricks, Dave Lambert, and Annie Ross. It knocked me out of my socks, and I'm still in flight.”
“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.”
“Obviously given good health, and a continuing audience and a record company that allows me to do music. So given those things yes, I'm introducing some new music that people haven't really heard me do in quite this fashion.”
“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.”
“Learn it well in your head, know it well, pick things you know and bring the old you and all the experience you have from singing these various kinds of feelings that are still related to what I have done in the rest of my career.”
“I say what's on my mind and have a good time. I try to give people a show. It's all about giving people a good time once you get out under those lights.”
“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.”
“I have been with the record company and Tommy was there doing records with other people.”
“My eyes went blank, and I stared off, and the music started. It was raining, and the sun was shining at the same time, and there were these big bay windows, and there was the blue in the sky, and the sun on the trees, and it was drizzling.”
“I love connecting with the audience, and there's more ways than one to do that.”
“The band and I really enjoy working for people who enjoy the music. I haven't made a bazillion dollars doing this. I do it because I love it. I did it for free and will do it for free in the morning.”
“I've got an odometer on my voice that has out-odometered an odometer on an automobile.”
“That's the way I try to live. I think it's the only way for human beings at this point in our evolution as souls, where everyone in their lifetime is going through stuff.”
“I'm a little bit nervous for us with all of this electronically generated new hyper-space that we've moved into, where not only people but also economies and systems, like banking, are left to zeros and ones. I want to be more than a zero or one.”
“I tour a lot and interview a lot. I'm on the Internet and doing stuff. I go out and promote. I've got a bass drum and a sandwich sign and a washboard. You just have to shout louder and louder that you're still alive.”