James Taylor, stand-up comedian?
James Taylor on his new musical, songwriting, Ukraine and more: ‘It helps to have a deadline’
Happily, this timeless American troubadour has no intention of putting aside his music to pursue a new career telling jokes and making wry quips to earn laughs. But at his thoroughly engaging Saturday night concert at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego — where he is set to perform for another capacity audience tonight — Taylor reaffirmed that he can deliver witty stage patter with the same skill and eye-twinkling warmth he brings to his classic songs of introspection.
When he earned rousing cheers for doffing his jacket after performing his third song, “Walking Man,” the 77-year-old Taylor grinned. “You people are starved for entertainment. You gotta get out more!” he said. After pausing a beat, he added: “Later, I might take out my teeth ….”
In between “Only a Dream in Rio” and “Up On The Roof,” the eighth and ninth selections in his 21-song performance, Taylor again alluded to his age. “The doctor said I might have some trouble with moving my stool,” he said, as he repositioned the backless wooden stool he sat to perform some numbers. Taylor then joked that Carole King and her former husband wrote “Up On The Roof,” a 1964 hit for The Drifters, “back in 1903.”
Prior to performing “You’ve Got A Friend,” another gem penned by King — in this case specifically for Taylor — he cracked: “I didn’t realize I’d have to play it every night for the rest of my life!” before acknowledging what a fantastic song it is. And when he substituted one acoustic guitar for another that looked virtually the same, he said: “I’m going to change this guitar for an identical guitar.”
Taylor’s playful jests were balanced by some of the candid insights he shared before performing some of his best-known songs and several deep-album cuts.
Introducing his yearning 1997 song, “Jump Up Behind Me,” he described being down and out in his late teens in New York City, where his first band, The Flying Machine, had imploded and he was in a drug-fueled spiral. His father phoned, he recalled, to ask how his son was doing. “Twelve hours later, he pulled up in a station wagon and took me out of there,” Taylor said. “I think he may have saved my life.”
Then, as if to avoid getting too serious, Taylor joked that while mothers are tirelessly on call 24/7, dads can be ed for doing just a few significant things as parents.
Introducing his new drummer, Frank Zappa band alum Chad Wackerman, Taylor said: “With a name like ‘Wackerman,’ I think you’re destined to hit things and make music.”
Wackerman, who in the 1980s was a member of former San Diegan Frank Zappa’s virtuoso group, is one of two new additions to Taylor’s aptly named All Star Band this year. The other is Max Darché, who replaces former Zappa trumpeter and flugelhorn player Walt Fowler.
Both fit in well in the talent-rich group, whose musical director and bassist, Jimmy Johnson, used to play alongside Wackerman in the band led by now-deceased electric guitar innovator Alan Holdsworth, who was a longtime San Diego County resident.
Father and son
Taylor remarked several times Saturday on the beauty of San Diego. He even injected the city’s name into the lyrics of his ebullient version of Marvin Gaye’s “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” the second of his three encore numbers. Earlier, as he introduced his festive 1975 song, “Mexico,” Taylor told the sold-out crowd of 7,400: “This may be the closest I’ve ever played this song to Mexico.”
In fact, he played the same song at his 1992 show at this exact same location in Embarcadero Marina Park South — 29 years before the San Diego Symphony unveiled The Rady Shell in this same park as its new outdoor summer concert home.
Then, as on Saturday, Taylor’s performance exuded charm and warmth, joy and pathos, heartfelt emotion and seamless craftsmanship. Of course, his voice is more weathered now, his range not as broad, as one might expect 33 years later.
But hearing him perform “Carolina In My Mind” at 77 — a song Taylor wrote and recorded in Spain when he was just 20 — was even more moving for the added cracks and character in his singing now. The same held true for his deeply moving renditions of “Sweet Baby James,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and, especially, “Fire and Rain.”
Taylor’s vocals grew more robust as the evening progressed. Rather than deny the ing of time or gloss over it, he embraced the wisdom and experience that come only with age. And when he and his 22-year-old son, Henry, sang side-by-side on the gorgeous “You Can Close Your Eyes,” the third and final encore, the enthusiastic audience got to hear the present-day James Taylor blissfully harmonize with the son who sounds very much like his dad did as a younger man.
