Al Jarreau

AL JARREAU leaps on stage wearing a Schlitz T-shirt (a nod to his Milwaukee roots) and with the graceful assistance of his hot Jazz quartet, grabs the audience and holds them securely in the palm of his hand for the next ninety minutes. This thirty-seven year old vocalist, aptly described as having "an orchestra in his throat," injects each song with waves of pure vocal sound and scat singing passages as he guides his audience through the scales of human emotion. His warm lithe excitement and staggeringly perfect control qualify him as the logical successor to the vocal crown worn by Ella Fitzgerald for so many years.