Two New Super Vocals

Some great stuff has recently been released for jazz fans. Especially for those who heardly know anything about jazz, there are two high quality discs perfect for an introduction to the jazz scene.

Patrice Rushen and Al Jarreau have new recordings certain to satisfy both fans and newcomers. Rushen, a veteran jazz artist, put together some fine tracks recently to produce Patrice. Formerly a backup vocalist for several artists, Rushen displays on Patrice every bit of her musical talent in a highly complex, soft-toned repertoire. Shout it Our and Prelusion, her previous discs, are also electrifying.

The album cover features a few of Rushen's instruments--an electric grand piano, microphone, and guitar. what it doesn't show is the clarinet, Rhodes piano, drums, bass synthesizer and tambourine. She's also got an orchestra behind her in every track. Rushen penned almost all the lyrics, arranged the music, conducted all but three of the selections and produced the album.

Patrice is not, however, flawless. The album's best lyrics are not written by Rushen alone, and for quite a few of the tracks, the list of musicians is even longer than the written lyrics. Hardly any of the songs venture into a new beat; Rushen therefore does not show much variety of style.

On the other hand, Rushen has a unique and vital quality of softness not often found in her jazz contemporaries. Her voice tingles, hums and vibrates on combination of Minnie Ripperton and notes from high to low, sounding like a Denice Williams. With the exception of occasionally explosive tracks, the tone is predominantly soft and smooth. She plays a masterful improvisation of the keyboard in an acoustic piano solo, "Hang it Up." In "Changes (In Your Life)," Rushen arranges the guitars and seasons the sound with a peppery synchronization of handclaps and fingersnaps.

All in all, Rushen's asset most working toward the success of Patrice and future albums is her melodic voice. Her music is great but her voice is an even more important ingredient. In fact, if 24-year-old Patrice Rushen never again plays a piano or strums a guitar, it will still be more than worthwhile to hear the voice of this talented artist again.

Al Jarreau goes with just about anything. One doesn't have to be a committed jazz fan to get into Jarreau. He's been making albums since 1975 when he started with We Got By, followed by Glow in 1976, a live album Look to the Rainbow in 1977 and most recently All Fly Home, the fourth in his series of introspective albums. Jarreau has a nice voice and the way in which he uses it is the highlight of each new recording.

In the past, Jarreau has not been as original as some critics would have liked him to be. His first album, rather than simply re-interpreting the songs of others, displayed more originality than his later ones. However, Jarreau has exhibited some originality, most notably through his almost total re-arranging of other artists' work. In this respect Jarreau exhibits more originality than many of his contemporaries. One can hardly argue that "Wait a Little While," already a hit, is at all a carbon copy of Kenny Loggins' lyrics, or that "She's Leaving Home," a twelve-year-old number penned by then-Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney is a totally unoriginal track.

Jarreau sings with a flavor. Like Rushen, his voice is an instrument, but unlike most artists, Jarreau pronounces the words in the lyrics to fake an instrumental beat. For an example of this intricate style, listen to "Thinkin' About it Too."

An unfortunate and unfortunately common mishap of albums is the mistaken exclusion of a track. In the case of All Fly Home, "Love Sweet Love" has been deleted. Although the lyrics are listed and the album cover stated that the piece is the only song Jarreau does not sing, the song fails to appear on the disc itself. Probably with good reason. If Jarreau didn't sing it, who did?

Horns are an important part of the instrumentation of this album. Jarreau received help from some of the best instrumentalists around when he got Freddie Hubbard for the flugelhorn and Pauline Da Costa for percussion. The sounds of their instruments and Jarreau's own vocal vibrations interact for fantastic acoustics.

And after it's all been sung and done, who really cares about originality anyway?