An Afternoon of Romance: The Al Jarreau Project
by Chuck Reider
Vern Scarbrough is filling in for our regular RJO blogger, Chuck Reider. This is his second guest post, following Why Teach Jazz? published in March 2025.
Still looking for the perfect Mother’s Day gift? Put down the flowers. I’ve got something better.
On Sunday, May 10 at 4:00pm, the Reno Jazz Orchestra brings a genuinely special afternoon to Nightingale Concert Hall at the University of Nevada, Reno, featuring An Afternoon of Romance: The Al Jarreau Project with the one and only Nicolas Bearde. Get your tickets at RenoJazzOrchestra.org.
Al Jarreau was one of those rare artists who made every genre feel as though it had been invented just for him. Born in Milwaukee in 1940, he was the son of a Seventh-day Adventist minister and grew up singing in church, a foundation that shaped his warmth and his instinct for connecting with an audience. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin and later earned a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Iowa, working as a rehabilitation counselor before music claimed him entirely. That backstory matters because it shows up in everything Jarreau did. There was a groundedness to him, a genuine desire to lift people up, that came through in every performance.
He won seven Grammy Awards across three different categories (jazz, pop, and R&B), making him the only recording artist in history to achieve that distinction. But the awards don’t capture what made him extraordinary. It was his voice. Jarreau could scat, swing, croon and groove, often all within the same song. He treated his voice as a percussion instrument, as a horn section, as a whisper and a shout. Songs like “We Got By,” “We’re in This Love Together,” “Roof Garden,” and his unforgettable take on Chick Corea’s “Spain” became standards in their own right; not covers of other people’s music, but Jarreau classics. He didn’t perform a song so much as inhabit it.
His 1981 album Breakin’ Away brought him to the widest possible audience, and “Mornin’” became one of those tracks that defined an era of smooth, sophisticated pop-jazz. I have my own reason to love that album: Karen and I danced our first dance as a married couple to the title track. What a memory. Yet even at his most commercially accessible, Jarreau never lost his jazz foundation. He was as comfortable at the Montreux Jazz Festival as he was on the pop charts, and that range is a rare gift. When he passed away in February of 2017, the music world felt the loss immediately and deeply.
That’s the repertoire our orchestra digs into on May 10, with Nicolas Bearde leading the way. Some of you were there in October 2024 when Nicolas inaugurated our Quintessence Music Series with The Legends of Jazz at The Theatre. That night set a high bar, and the room knew it. Nicolas is a Bay Area-based singer-songwriter, actor, and educator with 35-plus years in the music business. His style is likened to Lou Rawls, Nat King Cole, and Bill Withers, and he is celebrated for his “velvet voice,” natural wit, and the kind of easy rapport with a live audience that simply cannot be taught. He was also an original member of Bobby McFerrin’s legendary a cappella ensemble Voicestra from 1986 to 2005, a creative partnership that sharpened his instincts for harmony and spontaneity in ways that still show every time he steps to a microphone.
His discography speaks for itself. His 2016 album Invitation received GRAMMY consideration and reached #16 on the Jazz Week charts, and his tribute I Remember You: The Music of Nat King Cole drew rave reviews at home and abroad. He has also built a screen career, appearing in Final Analysis with Richard Gere, True Crimes with Clint Eastwood, and on the television series Nash Bridges and Monk. The man has range in every sense of the word.
I can speak to his live performance from personal experience. After Nicolas performed with the RJO at our inaugural Quintessence concert, my wife and I were so moved that we made the trip to Napa Valley to catch another one of his shows at the Blue Note Napa. Fantastic doesn’t come close to covering it. If you haven’t been to the Blue Note, it’s an intimate, world-class room, and Nicolas filled every inch of it. And here’s the kind of small-world jazz story that only happens when you’re paying attention: not long ago, my wife and I were at the Best in the West Rib Cook-off and struck up a conversation with a gentleman who turned out to know a great deal about New Orleans jazz. Our Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra had just participated in the Jazz Education Network Conference festival, so the topic was fresh on my mind. This fellow, it turns out, hosts a monthly jazz jam session at his business. And oh, by the way, he is Nicolas Bearde’s barber. You truly cannot make this up. The jazz world is small, warm, and finds you in the most unexpected places.
Steering the orchestra on May 10 is our Music Director, Dr. Greg Johnson. A saxophonist and composer, Greg is one of the most distinctive voices in jazz today. He has recorded with legends including Curtis Fuller, Billy Taylor, and Bob Mintzer, and his albums Philosopher’s Path and Visions of Kansas City earned six GRAMMY ballot nominations. When Greg and Nicolas share the stage, there’s a creative conversation happening that goes well beyond the charts. They’ve done it before, and it crackles.
The set list for An Afternoon of Romance: The Al Jarreau Project features “Morning,” “We’re in This Love Together,” “Not Like This,” “More Love,” “Dinosaur,” “Summertime,” “Teach Me Tonight,” “Spain,” “Roof Garden,” “We Got By,” and “Try a Little Tenderness.” That is a wall-to-wall great afternoon of music. “Spain” alone is worth the price of admission.
One more thing worth mentioning: if you’ve been thinking about supporting the RJO, right now is a particularly impactful moment to act. Chuck and Candy Reider have issued a $10,000 President’s Challenge Match, meaning every dollar donated is matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000, through May 15, 2026. Your gift literally goes twice as far. Visit RenoJazzOrchestra.org to give.
Nightingale Concert Hall is located in the Church Fine Arts Building at 1335 N. Virginia Street on the UNR campus. The music starts at 4:00 PM. Mom deserves a great afternoon. So do you. Come swing with us.