good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with al jarreau. mild friend, celebrating george duke reached number one on the billboard jazz charts. it pays a tribute to the wonderful artists. glad you joined us for the conversation with al jarreau. ♪ ♪

from contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ seven time grammy winner,al jarreau. "my old friend" celebrating duke with whom al shared so many wonderful moments. let's take a look at a cut from the cd called "summer breeze." it was originally on duke's love aware album. ♪

♪ >> what i wouldn't have given just to be in that studio. >> it's all games in there. i call sally clark. i saw paul jackson on guitar. good lord. >> wonderful players. >> you have some friends. >>and people who came to help me do this wonderful record to celebrate the great george duke. >> george was quite an artist. take me back to the beginnings of your friendship.

>> there's a record called "al jarreau and george duke live at the half note." my wife says b.c. b.c. don't forget that, al. we were there. >> right. >> people were doing other music than what we were doing. we were swimming upstream. finding an audience for this little jazzy something we were doing, testing the waters and making decisions about whether to go forward. i don't think george and i have any choice but to go forward with this jazzy approach to the music. so, we did. he kind of went some other way with frank zappa and brought a lot of stuff to frank. had a marvelous career, but such a broad career that said, hip

hop to bee bop. that was george. >> covered it all. >> covered it all and the romantic side of things. so, i wanted to do this record and when john from my record company said, well, what do you think about doing george duke tribute? scared me to death. >> yeah. >> i think i told you that. scared me to death. scared the stew out of me. >> what were you scared of? >> oh, man. who can do george? who can cover that breadth of material. >> al jarreau can and did. >> there's a lot i did. those are the places i think george and i crossed paths and enjoyed a similar kind of love for music the most. they are on that record and we are bumping the charts, the top of the charts. >> i was going to say

congratulations, number one this week. you have done it again. you have done it again, a number one album. tell me about the decision and maybe even it wasn't a decision, but, how did you process back in the '60s, swimming upstream, as you put it? cutting against the grain? >> i couldn't help it. neither of us had a choice. i came up, you know, listening to nat cole. my brothers and sisters were older than me. i was number five -- >> back in milwaukee? >> back in milwaukee. they were listening to jazzy kind of music, big band music. those artists i mentioned there. i listened to that in my living room and they were singing it. that's amazing, they were singing it.

they had quartets in my living room singing stuff. i was looking up going -- ♪ i didn't know i wasn't supposed to do that. that's what i mean by no choice. >> i'm laughing because i believe you were doing that. >> some of that jazz. >> you were, man. >> i didn't know i wasn't supposed to say that. >> i was singing that stuff at 7 years old. kind of told myself, i didn't want them to hear me. i went to the basement shoveling coal. we had a coal fired stove in the basement. oh, my goodness. that's kind of what i mean by it being in your phones and the church was there, too, with this message. all of that is inside the music.

i'm glad for having no choice. you know, i think in some kind of ways, we are all born into stuff. >> yeah. >> that gives us no choice. >> that thumbprint. that's kind of the beauty of people born on the other side of the tracks. nobody can tell that story like you. >> yeah. >> a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth can't tell that story like you can tell that story with the thumbprint born into your life. celebrate it. >> yeah. >> do something with it. celebrate it. >> yeah. i want to come back to this project in a second. that thing you do all the time, you did a moment ago, how did you, not that i ever will, but how did you become proficient at that. i sago al, and you can make the most interesting sounds and

beats. how did you -- is that just a gift? have you worked at that? >> yeah, i worked at it. there's some gift there. the gift comes, you know -- >> do it again. do something else. ♪ [ laughter ] >> you have to be driving your car and washing dishes doing that. ♪ >> that's when good music and new music comes. busy your hands with something that doesn't need anything. drive the car. focus with the other side of your mind. we have to talk about creative process some time. let's talk now. that's how songs begin.

that's how you get in touch, you get in touch, create, to create now like god created. you can get in touch. you kind of do it in the garden. work in the garden. plant some flowers. people feel at peace and such good feelings inside of them. a lot of people will write the beginning of a song. happens all the time for me. there's some research about what happens when you busy your hands with what's going on in a certain kind of your brain that opens up a whole other thing. it's the create. you see and hear. i saw -- there's a line of things we could talk about that i saw this morning when i was washing dishes. using my hands.

>> i have to use my hands more often. >> driving the car. the rock garden. you know, the priests in asia, rock garden. opening up the other side of the mind, getting in touch with god. >> yeah. >> sisters know the rosery. they say it over and other again. it's what happened when your hands and mind are busy with some repetitive manual, simple, simple function. what it does, it opens up this way to be in touch. >> when you say garden, they hear the word garden come out, i think roof garden, not a rock garden. one of my favorite al jarreau tracks of all time. >> it's me and george. >> i know. >> in the days he was working with parliament. still one of the most important

songs i do, i do it every night. we put it together with reach for it. >> yeah. how did you figure out, because there is good stuff on here. how did you figure out these were the ten tracks that needed to be on the project? >> well, again, there was some things, i'm not going to sing in that wonderful falsetto like phillip bailey and george do. it's not my thing. so, put a whole bunch of things aside that are of that sort. things that we referred to on soul train. george played this. music that george did. there were things i put aside. i decided on these things because they were a lot like me and i could put something in them for people who know these

songs that allows them to say, oh, oh. that's al and leyla? that's al and diana reeves. oh, i never thought about it that way. that was the idea. >> you pulled it off beautifully. speaking of al and leyla. the track you and leyla do is my favorite george duke song. "sweet baby" oooh. >> it gives you a chance to go wow. that's a new way to think about it. i can't do it better than george. just another way to think about it and enjoy it. >> george's fans love all this stuff, but let me speak for myself, "sweet baby" at the top of my list. "no rhyme no reason." that's a bad song. that's with kelly price.

>> hey, me and kelly price, one of the great new voices. thank you james. he's worked with her a lot and said al, i would like to produce these two songs. i worked with this artist named kelly price. i said i know her name. he played me some kelly price. i said please, let's do that. that's special. that's special. >> yeah. what do you -- what is the joy for you this deep into your career, still doing collaborations with people like gerald albright and diane reeve, kelly price, boney james and doctor john. the co-lab rative process is joyful in what ways? >> it's joyful in that there's another point of view on all

things, you know? not just mine. that's why i like to write and collaborate with people. there's another point of view. when those two things come together and people work at it really hard, they get something that is the sum is more -- the whole is more than the sum of it. that's how you say that? the whole is more than the sum of the parts. it's something new and fresh. that's what i love about the collaborations to write or to sing. hey, me and earl did something that -- >> amazing. >> and the quiet of the wake. i keep enjoying that as a process throughout my life. it's the joy, tavis, in waking up going here i am, thank you father. i'm not running 1,000 miles an hour anymore. my 100 meter times are not the same. [ laughter ]

>> but, here i am and i got this song to sing and i got the people who like hearing me sing it. what does maya angelou say? people may forget what you say and what you do, but they will never forget how you made them feel. >> yeah. yeah. >> go to the stage with that in your heart. >> yeah. >> i'll bring people a feeling that uplifts them, gives them courage and strength and faith and hope. that's the deal. >> i didn't just hear you, i felt you. i felt that expression. i felt it across this space here. there are a lot of people, though, sadly, who no longer believe that music is still pregnant with that kind of potency, that kind of power. you believe music has the power

to change the world. >> incredible power. marcus miller was with us when we did a great celebration of jazz in turkey. sponsored by the u.n. and the monk institution. he was there, too. marcus miller sat on the stage and a question like that got raised. marcus said so wonderfully and eloquently, well, you know, we go to japan and italy and people don't speak the same language that we do, but as soon as we start to play, we are talking the same language. music. special magic that communicates feelings and sensitivities that are human and what is so wonderful about the art, let your kids get involved in the arts and study. this workshop of human sensitivity.

sadness, joy, happiness and aware of sadness and joy and happiness in life. our congress ain't never listened to any kind of music. >> congress needs a music appreciation class. that might change their whole outlook. you might be on to something, al. instead of cutting, they ought to be sitting in music class. >> that's right. a sensitivity workshop on human sensitivities. >> you joked a moment ago, your 100 meter times aren't as good as they used to be. when you lose a friend, let me get serious for you, when you lose a friend, a 40 or 50 year friend like george duke and he was gone so fast, it seems, do you start to think about your own dance with mortality? >> of course. of course. >> what are you thinking, if i can ask? >> man, it gives me a chance to

review the truth about the matter an that is we are okay. i'm from the spirit of god, which is crossover and move on. we cross over and move on. we talk about it all the time at funerals. he's moved on. we mention and he's gone on to heaven. the idea is, we got it from somewhere, wherever we got it from, it ain't the end. it would be unlike anything in existence that i know of that is like this and ends here. nothing ends. it comes from something, goes on to something else. that's the mission to beautify the study and learn that and move on. >> move on. >> yeah. >> sorry. sorry. i probably blew the whole hour, didn't i? >> no, you didn't. you said something profound.

marinating as we speak. okay. >> that's the thought. the final thought. >> it's okay. we are in the blue. we sing about it all the time. keep singing about it until you understand it. god loses nothing. we move on. we lost a sample. >> i'm still struggling with that. >> al, i woke up at 5:00 in the morning and joel was in the hospital very sick and joe came by. he felt the spirit come by and nodded to her. i don't know what he said, but she felt him come by as he left the body and moved on. felt his spirit. >> i discovered you and joe sample around the same time. i just finished high school. i was raised in a very, very

strict, religious family, pent costal, very strict. all through high school, couldn't listen to secular music or go to dances. i couldn't do all that. when i got to indiana university, i hit the campus, i was a music lover. i was choir director in my church. i love music. when i got to campus, i was free enough, away from my parents to explore music and all the beauty and complexity. i discovered al jarreau. when i hear "voices in the rain" from joe sample -- >> yeah. >> i louisville it. >> yeah. >> when i heard "tell me" by al jarreau -- ♪ tell me the reason >> you know the bridge don't

you? ♪ ♪ there's a song with no one to sing ♪ ♪ there's a fool on a hill who thinks he's doing fine ♪ >> don't get me started, man. al jarreau is my man. >> opportunities to tell you that, how you have taken my music and give me moments on this show. for me, it's like having maya angelou or nelson mandela give me a big loud, yes. that's how it feels. i know who you are. yeah. >> how did you were reflecting a moment ago, how did and how does, all these years later, how does that spiritual, church,

god, influence in your life as a kid in milwaukee, how does it express itself in your artistry today? >> it's the message. u4÷ saying a moment ago, we sang songs in church and sometimes it became just singing the words. it's in the message. the epic, the epic, the epic of jesus. study it. study it and know how he spoke to the poor, to the sick, to those who were marginalized. we are a nation that has that at our roots. i have it in my family. it's something that people were drawn to because it spoke to so many of us. you know, i mean we've experienced a little class that's gotten rich, you know, so to speak.

kind of forgotten the foundation and the fabric that kept us together as we struggled through this and helped each other. it was the epic of jesus. love each other, take care of each other. that's the job, love and take care of each other as mankind. if e.t. has a why list, he's out there, why? you are the richest people, most successful people. why are folks unclothed? why are folks unfed? we can do it. i blew it again, didn't i? >> that's why i love you. it's why you keep coming back. not because you got a number one record. although you do. you are so profound. what, to your mind, is the legacy, the ongoing legacy of

george duke? >> well, i said a moment ago, it's that george duke saw no limitations to what he could enjoy. he could enjoy bay in the morning. george wrote a symphony but he will funk you into a hip replacement. [ laughter ] >> i love -- >> excuse me. >> i love al jarreau. i miss george duke. i'm sure like many other george duke fans. we finally have, from al jarreau, a tribute to his old friend, called "my old friend." there are collaborations on here are anybody and everybody who loved george duke chlgt a number one jazz album. i love you like a fat kid loves

cake, you know that. you are welcome back anytime. >> thank you, i love you more. susan says hello. >> that's the show for tonight. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. for more information visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> i'm tavis smiley. join me next time with an author. that's next time. we'll see you then.

by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> rose: welcome took the, welcome to the program, we begin with the new film being released this week it is called birdman directed by alejandro inarritu and it edward norton. they all join me now. >> alejandro said to us in the beginning, this is a story about artists and performers, but in much the same way i think if you go all the way back to shakespeare, he said, you know, life is a play or on the stage, you know, i think alejandro from the get go said this, this isn't, there are lots of pleasures in sticking a fork in the movie i have, in artists a and their pretensions and egos but if underneath all of this, this isn't deeply relatable by anybody who has ever had that voice in=b self questioning, then we haven't gone to the level