Al Jarreau Al Jarreau has created his own style with a blend of jazz and soul music, captivating an enormous worldwide audience with his amazing vocal skills and scat techniques. With five GRAMMY®s and scores of international jazz and pop music awards, he has established himself as a legend in the music industry. After earning an undergraduate degree in psychology from Ripon College and a master’s degree in vocal rehabilitation from the University of Iowa, Jarreau began practicing as a rehabilitation counselor in San Francisco. Although he had been singing since the age of four, it wasn’t until his early 20s, while in San Francisco, that he began singing in local jazz clubs and soon realized that music would become his career. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1975, Jarreau was signed to the Warner Bros. label, where he recorded his first album, We Got By. In 1977, he toured the world and released the live concert album Look To The Rainbow. That same year, he won his first GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocal Performance and topped many readers and critics polls. With his fourth album, All Fly Home, he won yet another GRAMMY for Best Jazz Vocalist. During the 1980s, Jarreau continued to tour and record, amazing his audiences with his innovative vocal style. It was during this time that his album Breakin’ Away sold a million copies and brought him a broader audience. Recently, Jarreau was awarded a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, commemorating his spectacular career.
Joni Mitchell A true “musician’s musician,” vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Joni Mitchell has been widely recognized as one of the brightest musical lights of the last 40 years. Her ever-evolving musical journey has been a true inspiration to musicians of all genres. Mitchell spent most of her childhood in Saskatchewan, Canada. At the age of nine, she contracted polio during a Canadian epidemic. During her long stay at the hospital, she first became interested in singing, belting out Christmas carols from her hospital bed. From a young age, Mitchell would write and perform her own music. In the early ’60s, Mitchell performed in the folk club circuit throughout the U.S. and Canada. While performing at the Gas Light in Florida, she was discovered by David Crosby, who took her back to Los Angeles. Mitchell became an instant hit in California, and many of her songs were recorded by other artists, the most well known being Judy Collins’ top 10 hit of Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” Throughout the ’70s, Mitchell’s success continued, as her albums took on a rock influence. She also crossed into the jazz realm, recording a tribute to Charles Mingus featuring Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorious, and Wayne Shorter. Mitchell’s songs have been recorded by artists including Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, the Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, Dianne Reeves, James Taylor, Janet Jackson, Diana Krall, and Prince. She has received five GRAMMYs, a Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Shine, Mitchell’s first album of original songs in a decade, was released on the Starbucks Hear Music label in September. On the very same day, Herbie Hancock released River: The Joni Letters, a tribute album to Mitchell.
Thelonious Monk, Jr. Thelonious Monk, Jr. had an extraordinary childhood. As the son of jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk, his home was the gathering place for Art Blakey, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, and other musicians who created some of the greatest jazz music of all time. As a child, Monk began playing drums after receiving encouragement and his first pair of drum sticks from Max Roach and his first full drum set from Art Blakey. He was then on his way toward becoming an accomplished jazz and R&B drummer. Monk played for two years with his father’s band and was a member of Atlantic Records’ nine-piece fusion band Natural Essence. He then formed the group “T.S. Monk” with his sister Barbara Monk and vocalist Yvonne Fletcher. The group recorded three albums for Mirage Records and charted a top 20 hit with its single “Bon Bon Vie” followed by “Too Much Too Soon.” In 1992, Monk formed a straight ahead septet and released Take One on Blue Note Records, which was followed by Changing of the Guard and the critically acclaimed The Charm. Monk’s most recent release, Higher Ground, ventures into the realms of smooth jazz and funk. In addition to being a musician, Monk is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. 51