The passing of his close friend George Duke due to leukemia at the age of 67, last year on Aug. 5, touched Al Jarreau deeply. Unknown to most of us, Jarreau and Duke, the legendary keyboardist and composer, started out in the music business at the same time and spent their beginnings and presumably hungry years together.
Jarreau was a social worker doing occasional jazz gigs when he met Duke, a promising jazz musician in San Francisco in 1965. One jam session evening Jarreau performed with Duke and his band and brought the house down. And so began the new group, Al Jarreau and the George Duke Trio.
Jarreau spent three years with the group as vocalist, doing nightly gigs and even recording an album. Not really that long, considering other partnerships, but I believe those were very important, formative years in their careers. Both of them went on to bigger things in the realm of pop jazz and they certainly matured into two of the most important jazz musicians of this generation.
Jarreau had hit songs, Take Five, Never Givin’ Up, After All, We’re In This Love Together, Spain. They did Breaking Away together. Duke also had his own hits like Sweet Baby and memorable collaborations as performer, arranger or producer with Jean Luc Ponty, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Bridges with Diane Reeves and even Off The Wall with Michael Jackson. They also had other performing partners. Stanley Clarke for Duke and George Benson for Jarreau.
Jarreau felt the need to do something to celebrate the life of his friend and decided to do it with an album. For this, he gathered several of Duke’s original works. Then he chose one of his own, the aptly titled My Old Friend. And then he called in their old friends to record with him for the album. The result is a star-studded list of jazz artists performing Duke’s best works.
My Old Friend Celebrating George Duke by Jarreau is an easy, flowing collection where everybody seems to know what they are doing. The album was produced by jazz music stalwarts, John Burk, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and Boney James. The R&B is electric and the jazz is languid when Latin and sexy when it goes mainstream. It’s definitely one of the best jazz albums now in the stores.
The line-up includes My Old Friend and Somebossa (Summer Breezin’) featuring sax wiz Gerald Albright; Someday and Brazilian Love Affair made up of Up From The Sea It Arose And Ate Rio In One Swift Bite and with Dianne Reeves, who is Duke’s cousin; Churchyheart (Backyard Ritual) with bass player and producer Marcus Miller; Sweet Baby with singer Lalah Hathaway and posthumously Duke himself; Every Reason To Smile/ Wings Of Love featuring R&B balladeer Jeffrey Osborne, whose big hit On The Wings Of Love Duke produced; No Rhyme, No Reason with Kelly Price; Bring Me Joy with Duke and Boney James; and You Touch My Brain with Dr. John.
Speaking of friends, friendships of many, many years are what instantly put together the new group New Minstrels Divos. Eugene Villaluz, Ding Mercado and Rene Puno started out their singing careers with the New Minstrels back in the late ’60s during which they made hit songs like Buhat, Balut and others. It was the same group that Chad Borja would join some years later.
These past years have seen them as soloists like Eugene and Chad or duos like Eugene with Louie Reyes or with other groups or even other careers as in the case of Ding’s many years as a TV host in Hong Kong and Rene’s current occupation as a lawyer. But once somebody sends out a call for them to sing together, you can bet that they would all be there, ready with their harmonies.
The call to become the New Minstrels Divos came only early this year and the group’s first show happened at the Teatrino in Greenhills barely two months ago. But people liked them and they easily established a good following. So good, in fact that these guys are now answering the clamor for a repeat concert with two shows at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the RCBC Plaza in Makati. Titled Sincerely The New Minstrels Divos The Repeat, the shows will be held on Sept. 13 and 19, both at 8 p.m. Call Ticketworld, 891-9999 or hotlines 0917-5506997 or 0999-9545922.
Those who will watch Sincerely The New Minstrels Divos The Repeat will be treated to the Bee Gees Saturday Night Fever medley; Manilow medley, ’60s boy band medley, Broadway medley, plus timeless favorites like Moment To Moment, Morning Girl, Portrait Of My Love, When I Fall In Love, It’s Impossible, Moon River, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, Let Me Try Again, An Affair To Remember and many other memorable songs.