James Taylor is Good, Funny
photo courtesy of Seattlest Brad. James Taylor with Arnold McCuller. Lou Marini plays in background.
Seattlest Brad has zero inclination to pursue a career as a music reviewer. But because our editor is so nice when she's arm-twisty, here goes:
On the coldest night of the summer, James Taylor and his "Band of Legends" wrapped up a two-night stop at the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Woodinville Tuesday night. The two-set, nearly three-hour show featured vintage Taylor favorites, as well as a variety of covers. Taylor was backed by an 11-piece band whose staging was reminiscent of the Big Band era.
Taylor is releasing a covers album later this fall, and his show featured many of these. While not as eclectic as the Johnny Cash "American" series, the set did feature some interesting choices. Covered artists included The Temptations ("It's Growing"), as well as Fifties R&B band The Silhouettes, whose "Get A Job" Taylor called "a timely song given where we seem to be these days."
A highlight of the show was a surprising choice: Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin,'" from the musical Oklahoma. Taylor's trademark voice, combined with the band's strong backing vocals gave an ethereal, almost haunting note to an otherwise laid-back evening.
Later in the first set, Taylor said the band added some country tunes when they found out they had been booked at the Calgary Stampede earlier this summer, then led the band through a Dixie Chicks cover, the George Jones standard "Why Baby Why," and "Wichita Lineman," popularized by Glenn Campbell.
During the show, Taylor was very chatty and interacted with the crowd throughout the night. As the first set neared its end, Taylor quipped "There's a 20-minute intermission coming after this song. I'm not sure why we do this. I guess it's so we can all go back to the buses and bong 'ludes or whatever you think it is we are doing back there." So when the band took their break, Taylor stayed on stage and signed autographs until the band returned 25 minutes later.
He played all of his best-known classics ("Carolina," "You've Got a Friend," "Fire and Rain") and closed with a medley of "Midnight Hour" and "Knock on Wood", in a great duet with Arnold McCuller. Notable in the band was saxophonist Lou Marini known as "Blue Lou" in the Blues Brothers movies.
