Long before he became an R&B, soul, disco and jazz virtuoso respected by all sides, Al Jarreau was a San Francisco social worker who sang jazz as a sideline – but a 1965 jam with rising young pianist George Duke at the Half Note club changed his life, and these slick but idiosyncratic covers of Duke favourites are Jarreau's tributes to the friend and guide who died last year. Dr John, saxophonists Boney James and Gerald Albright, bassist Marcus Miller, and vocalists Dianne Reeves and Lalah Hathaway are also on the guest list. Jarreau must have been torn over how much jazzy waywardness he could balance with saleable soul-smooching, and there's no concealing that this is a smooth-jazz album. But if the vocal and instrumental audacities often outstrip the lyrics by light years (Jarreau's talkative phrasing and Reeves' cool grace on Someday have to battle with lines like "I know you think I'm crazy/ But I know my mind's not hazy"), the 1980s-Miles Davis feel of the gospelly Churchyheart, some freewheeling counterpoint between the leader and Hathaway on Sweet Baby, and a snappy, funky Latin medley are creative flights that sweep smooth jazz out of its formulaic habits. It's a relaxed, classy and honest tribute.