James Taylor at Tanglewood

Laid Back Evening Launches Weekend Series

By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 28, 2009

James Taylor sang several of his more obscure compositions. Giuliano photos.

Ozawa Hall was packed to the rafters.

JT was in a laid back mood.

Hands in his pockets.

An expressive moment.

He had the audience in the palms of his hands.

Digging into a groove.

Sweet Baby James, indeed.

Reflecting on his friend Ted Kennedy.

With the singers Kate Markowitz, left and Andrea Zonn to Taylor’s right.

 

The Band: Conversations Among Friends
James Taylor and Band
Luis Conte, percussion; Walt Fowler, horns; Steve Gadd, drums: Larry Goldings, keyboards; Jimmy Johnson, bass; Michael Landau, electric guitars; Lou Marini, horns; Kate Markowitz, vocals; Arnold McCuller, vocals; Andrea Zonn, vocals, fiddle.
Tanglewood Music Festival
Ozawa Hall
August 27, 2009

They were hanging from the rafters and stretched out on the lawn last night for a concert with James Taylor accompanied by seven musicians and four singers that sold out months ago. We talked with a couple from Albany that bought lawn seats on line, yesterday, from the BSO site for a face price of just $17. There were also folks trying to sell tickets. So there is a good chance you may get in tonight and over the weekend. Overall, Tanglewood has reported that 60,000 tickets have been sold.  Taylor, a Berkshire resident and friend, has donated his $500,000 fee for one Ozawa Hall concert and three in the Shed.

Tonight (Friday) and tomorrow Taylor and his band will appear with special guests Sheryl Crow, guitar and vocals, and Yo Yo Ma, cello. On Sunday, at 2:30 pm. Taylor with appear with the Pops conducted by John Williams and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus conducted by John Oliver. Williams will open the program with “Superman” “Harry Potter” and “Cinema Paradiso” (with Tamara Smirnova, solo violin) ending with Three Pieces from “Star Wars.” Following an intermission Taylor will be backed by Williams and the Pops accompanied by Larry Goldings, keyboards, Jimmy Johnson, bass and Steve Gadd, drums.

There was a low key aura to the program last night in which Taylor performed a few obscure but engaging tunes. Mostly band members and all four vocalists were featured each with several selections. Several times he sat on a vacated stool to turn the tables as a backup singer. It was an interesting concept that Taylor and his band have wanted to try for some time. He thanked the audience for their kind response. It was a signifier of his warmth and generosity that he would turn an evening over to his band. It entailed some risk taking. It made sense in the context of a special series of various concerts and related events.

The evening ended with an emotional tribute to the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Taylor spoke of Kennedy with great affection as a personal friend as well as an ardent supporter of Tanglewood. Over the years Kennedy frequently skied in the Berkshires and attended Tanglewood events. He even appeared with the Pops reading the tribute to Lincoln in a composition by Aaron Copland. This summer that role was filled by Governor Deval Patrick.

After an opening number Taylor turned to acknowledge the row of seats in the rear above and behind the stage. “It’s probably tempting to throw things at us from up there” he said with a touch of whimsy. “This is one of the few days all summer when it hasn’t rained. Thanks for showing up. Your presence means a lot. It is hard to do this without you. This supports the Tanglewood Music Center so we are glad to see you. We have planned an evening of rarely heard songs and are showcasing the band. I would like to perform a song I wrote for my wife Kim/ Caroline. It features Lou Marini on horns.”

The rarely heard love song spoke of seeing her standing on the landing of their Lenox home and how it makes him melt like chocolate. Kim, who worked for the BSO when they met, was seated in the loge near the stage. She is now a trustee of the BSO and was instrumental in organizing this landmark series of concerts as a benefit for the orchestra. It is estimated that the Taylor series sold $3 million and greatly boosted what has been a challenging season plagued by a poor economy and bad weather.

For most of his songs Taylor was perched on a stool playing an amplified acoustic guitar. But he was on his feet stomping and rocking through the next number. “Here’s a song we used to do in our sets 20 years ago ‘Me and My Guitar.’” That got the juices flowing but then the mood changed becoming more subdued as he largely turned the evening over, with uneven impact, to band members and the four backup singers.

“One of the greatest joys of a musical life” he said “One that has had me perched in the catbird seat for my career, has been to perform with these wonderful musicians on stage. Tonight we are turning the tables and listening to the music the band members make on their own.”

The first up was Arnold McCuller. In a pattern that prevailed during the two plus hours of the concert he sang three songs starting with a selection from his album “Sabor.” There was an easy Calypso beat as he encouraged the audience to participate. Also from the album he sang “Love Will Prevail” which he co wrote with Taylor’s piano player Larry Goldings. Focusing on a lady in the first row he was sexy and provocatively teasing on “Excuse Me Miss Is That the Way You Look.”

This was followed by a rather extended instrumental featuring Michael Landau on guitar. The other band members fell in as James laid back and comped. The song was titled ‘The Mighty S.B,” a reference to Santa Barbara.

Some 45 minutes into the first set we had heard relatively little from JT when he turned the program over to Andrea Zonn who sang three tunes with interludes of fiddle. She started with “Galilee Road” followed by “Frozen.”After this extended interlude JT returned with the obscure “Native Son” and an oddity “Traffic Jam.” By then we were longing for the hits or at least something other than long forgotten B sides. It was time for a break.

Opening the second set Taylor introduced ZonnÂ’s next song  which he composed for a Broadway musical that opened and closed, as he put it “in a heart beat.” The lyrics about mill workers in Lowell revealed why however ardently performed. It must have come from TaylorÂ’s Pete Seeger phase.

After opening with Zonn Taylor again chatted with the audience about the percussion workshop the night before featuring band members Steve Gadd and Luis Conte. He was relieved that nobody got hurt. Continuing he commented “Here’s a love song that never sees the light of day” and then performed “There We Are.” Again, it didn’t ring any bells.

In what proved to be a highlight of the evening Larry Goldings was featured on piano with a Brazilian flavored instrumental from a CD. It sounded like “Manin” but we may be wrong. The band enjoyed grooving on the Bossa Nova beat. We learned that Goldings is a Berkshire native.

There was a very different and exotic mood when David Lasley was featured. Brushing back long blond hair he paused after starting a song, excused himself, and took a sip of water for the “frog” in his throat. He continued with evocative falsetto in a lovely treatment of “I CanÂ’t Let You Break My Heart Again” and “Looking for Love on Broadway.” 

Taylor returned with “Sweet Potato Pie” which he informed us was performed with Ray Charles. “I got to sing it with him at the very last possible moment before he left us.”

Then it was Kate Markowitz’s turn. She performed from her “Map of the World” CD. Taylor amusingly informed us that they had met some years before in Japan while performing Brazilian music. She has a lovely voice and a charming delivery. The audience was enchanted by “Pride and Vanity.” We warmed when she conveyed misgivings about performing a Taylor song with James looking on. There was a burst of applause as the audience recognized the standard “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.” He smiled in appreciation of her version of the song.

Coming back to the spotlight he introduced a ‘road song.’ It is apparently an inevitable topic for touring musicians and composers. Frank Zappa made a rather bad film “200 Motels” which I was unfortunate to see. The lyrics were about longing to be back home.

Before an encore dedicated to Ted Kennedy, Taylor ended the program with a long rambling story about visiting Rio de Janeiro, in 1988, for a massive rock festival. At the time he said “I was messed up” and in a funk. Until performing before an enormous audience he was stunned when they sang along. The story related how there had just been the first election in more than 20 years because the Junta has self destructed. For the first time in decades artists were free to express themselves. He told of visiting a huge nightclub made of stacked up scaffolding and the audiences hanging from every level. This surreal experience inspired the song “Only a Dream.”

The series continues tonight with Sheryl Crow and Yo Yo Ma. Presumably it will include more familiar tunes.