LENOX
After 40 years as an iconic songwriter, performer and recording artist, it's no surprise that James Taylor puts on a great show. With more than 200 songs and covers in his wide-ranging repertoire and one of the tightest, most polished bands in the business, Taylor's appeal cuts across multiple generations. His voice remains richly textured, thanks to the healthy lifestyle he adopted after years in a wilderness of fire and rain.
The five-day "James Taylor and Friends" extravaganza ranks as a career high-water mark, a triumph of precise planning and first-class execution. Kim Taylor, now an additional backup singer and Boston Symphony trustee, conceived the complex project and her husband gives her major credit for masterminding it.
Taylor Mania opened Wednesday evening with a compelling workshop showcasing his master percussionists, Steve Gadd and Luis Conte, and closed yesterday as he shared the stage with the Boston Pops and John Williams. In between, there was an Ozawa Hall performance featuring Taylor in some rarely-heard songs and spotlighting his backup singers (collaborators, actually) as they demonstrated their considerable vocal and instrumental skills.
There were two amped-up Shed concerts, considerably enhanced by guest artist Sheryl Crow and superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and even a penetrating panel discussion with Taylor, Crow and Williams, moderated by Boston Symphony Managing Director
Among the moments of comic relief: When one of those annoying audience females shrieked "I love you, James!" he responded without skipping a beat: "Seems like a public place to say it, but I love you too." Also, his pre-intermission advice to the audience: "Talk among yourselves and catch up on your correspondence while we go backstage and watch the clock."
Taylor favors a slow build, opening each of the two 75-minute Shed sets with his crooning, folk- and country-tinged ballads and climaxing with percussive, hard-driving, rafter-rattling rockers. His sound system, a bit heavy on the reverb, was well-balanced except during Crow's segments, when most of her lyrics were difficult to fathom.
There were too many high points to enumerate.These magic moments, in no specific order, were especially memorable:
n "Shed a Little Light," the encore at the Thursday concert was preceded by a moving dedication to Ted Kennedy. Taylor's appeal for brother and sisterhood, written in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, still resonates strongly for the power of its humanitarian message.
n A similarly affecting tribute to Kennedy near the end of yesterday's performance featuring "Lonesome Road," beautifully realized by Taylor and members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. The Pops-Taylor pairing, a mellow "Best of JT" compilation, included some well-conceived new orchestrations. It was preceded by a Williams-Pops sampler from "Superman," "Harry Potter," "Star Wars," and Enrico Morricone's "Cinema Paradiso," as well as Williams's own Kennedy tribute, his Elegy for Cello and Orchestra, with an outstanding solo by the BSO's Martha Babcock. In typically generous fashion, Taylor and his band rewarded fans -- some of whom were delayed by traffic -- with more than a half-dozen solo encores, ending with "Close Your Eyes" and, appropriately, "Traffic Jam." With great fervor, he urged the crowd to come back often to experience the joys of Tanglewood.
n The hard-rocking, revival-meeting powerhouse grouping of "Up on the Roof," "Your Smiling Face" and "How Sweet It Is" (a duet with Sheryl Crow) on Friday and Saturday. The energy level was at a fever pitch both nights and the overall effect, enhanced by creative lighting and set design, was hypnotic and transformative.
n Yo-Yo Ma's sweetly soaring cello accompaniments to "You've Got a Friend," "Fire and Rain" and Crow's achingly sad, haunting "Wildlower." Ma and Taylor even collaborated on an arrangement of Schumann's "Traumerei" ("Dreaming"), a unique reverse crossover. Ma is perhaps the only classical luminary accorded rock-star treatment by pop-concert crowds.
n Sheryl Crow's high-energy reprise of her hits, "My Favorite Mistake," "If It Makes You Happy," "Strong Enough," "Hard to Make a Stand" and "All I Want to Do," with Taylor serving as backup. Despite apparent audio-mix challenges, her hard-edged blend of anger, despair, joy and fierce independence came through and added an extra dimension; the musical chemistry between Crow and Taylor was dynamic and palpable. A return engagement is eagerly anticipated.
n Kate Markowitz's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" (with Taylor on guitar) and country fiddler-vocalist Andrea Zonn's "Galilee Road" and "Frozen," during the Thursday night Ozawa Hall showcase for the band. Also: Arnold McCuller's performances of "Chance" and "Love Will Prevail" from his own album.
n The half-dozen percussion students from the Berklee School in Boston who presented brief samples of their work to Gadd and Conte at Wednesday's master class; they responded with gently-phrased, yet well-targeted critiques.
n The personal reflections by Taylor, Crow and Williams at the Saturday discussion on their careers and personal lives, as well as the future of popular and classical music -- especially JT's reflections on how life on the road nurtures and sustains him because of the feedback from the audience.
n Arnold McCuller's gospel-tinged, stratospheric solo near the end of "Shower the People," always a highlight, always too brief.
n Finally, the tripleheader encores on Friday and Saturday night -- "Mockingbird" and "All I Wanna Do" with Crow and Taylor in tandem and, of course, the benediction -- "Sweet Baby James," with the "turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston" line that always summons heartfelt cheers from the audience here.
The five-day mini-festival turned out to exceed expectations -- a tremendous gift not only to the BSO and Tanglewood but also to the legions of admirers who continue responding to Taylor's artistry, sincerity, authenticity and tight connection to his public.
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