Story updated to reflect Jarreau’s passing. 

GENEVA — Jazz legend and Montreux Jazz Festival regular Al Jarreau, 76, has died only days after announcing his retirement from touring and resigning from a mentorship at the Montreux Jazz Academy.

Jarreau’s career span of over 50-years included 16 concerts in Switzerland’s most famous music festival. Just three days before his passing, the Montreux Jazz Academy announced that Jarreau would no longer return to Switzerland to mentor ten young artists as he had done in 2015.

The academy is a yearly seven-day program for talented young musicians, mentored by some of the greatest jazz players in the world.

In a press release, Montreaux Jazz Festival remembered Jarreau as someone who had “shared his talent, his personality, and his good humor with the talented young artists of the Academy at the second edition in 2015. That year, he also presided over the Jury of the Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition”.

In 2010 while playing in neighboring France, Al Jarreau had to cancel his tour after being taken ill. Jarreau remained in intensive care battling breathing problems. In 2012, the musician once again had to cancel part of his French tour due to pneumonia.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOu82QmFza2/

Related stories and obituaries: 

• Swiss memories of a Prince-ly artist
• B.B. King’s sweet blues with Switzerland
• David Bowie’s glam connection to the Lake Geneva area of Switzerland
• Al Jarreau cancels Montreaux Jazz mentoring days before death

Find us on Facebook where we post news from other blogs and news sites. We are also  on Twitter with news from Geneva and beyond . To receive the posts via email, kindly subscribe at the bottom of the page.