Al Jarreau Playfully Juggles His Many Personas

Any time Al Jarreau turns up at a large, middle-of-the-road venue such as the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, there’s always a bit of uncertainty about which of his various musical personas will arrive on stage. Will it be the Jarreau one sees at his pure jazz gigs--a brilliantly imaginative vocal improviser? Or will it be the smooth-jazz hit-maker? Will it be Jarreau, the musical trickster, ever in search of a bit of spontaneous humor? Or, perhaps, the master of presentation and timing, able to convince an audience to let go of its inhibitions via all-join-in sing-alongs?

In his Sunday afternoon appearance at Cerritos, he managed to bring along all those transformations, and more. Opening with a lively rhythmic sequence (including the fun a cappella number, “Puddit,” from his recent album “Tomorrow Today”) and tossing in a high-spirited romp through “Take Five,” he was the jazz Jarreau, investing every phrase with upbeat rhythmic swing.

It didn’t take long for him to move on to the smooth-jazz hits, however, with numbers such as “So Good,” “After All,” “Tomorrow Today,” “High Crime” and “Since I Fell for You” filling most of the performance space. Irrepressible humor and audience engagement followed, manifestations of Jarreau’s utter sense of comfort in performance. The easygoing sense of irreverent fun he communicated--reminiscent at times of the high jinks of the Sinatra/Martin/Davis Jr. Rat Pack--embraced his musicians, as well as his listeners, resulting in a program in which even the more mundane material surfaced in appealing fashion.

Jarreau, in other words, did what he has been doing for years--manage the difficult balancing act of remaining firmly in touch with his roots as an accomplished, inventive jazz artist, while still paying the commercial dues that generate the rewards associated with the pop music world. At his best, he is a marvelous creator of sound and rhythm, using his flexible voice, extraordinary pitch range and a jazz instrumentalist’s feel for swing at every possible opportunity; and in this concert, he was consistently at his best.

Capping the program, Jarreau added--apparently at the last minute--a touching rendition of “God Bless America,” beautifully harmonized by keyboardist Freddie Ravel. Asking the overflow crowd to join him in singing a work that was really a “prayer,” Jarreau employed his admirable creative sensitivity to transform its familiar words into a moving anthem for peace.