Al Jarreau: You're asking me about the importance of Duke Ellington? That's like asking me how important it was for me to grow up with my mother, my father and my five siblings.
So you consider him a family member.
Duke Ellington's music had a decisive influence on the time I grew up in - the 1940s. That's why his music is at the heart and center of who I am musically today. If you are a music listener or musician, then there is always a bit of Duke Ellington in you.
In me too?
Yes, because he changed music. We are the result of what such musicians have given us. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are also a result of that. I was already singing "Satin Doll" by Ellington when I was twelve.
Elegant, funky, cultivated and full of joy
How would you describe Duke Ellington's music?
It is elegant, funky, sophisticated and full of joy. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Count Basie took the roots of honky-tonk church soul from New Orleans and turned it into the most important form of pop music of modern times: swing.
Was Ellington a pop musician?
Yes, he was a pop composer. Because people danced to his music back then. And much wilder and crazier than today. The girls wore wide skirts and let themselves be thrown over their shoulders.
You tour with the NDR Bigband. How did that come about?
Four years ago, I was on tour with this fantastic big band, together with Joe Sample. Joe Sample played and I sang songs from "Porgy and Bess". The musicians in the NDR big band are great. They play as if they were born in New Orleans and now come from Chicago.
You started your tour in Hamburg. Because the big band is from there?
My career basically started in Germany. I toured Germany for six months with my first album in 1976 and made an appearance on the NDR television station.
AL JARREAU & NDR BIGBAND
The Duke Ellington Songbook
1.12.16 Kongresshaus Zurich
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