James Taylor, Carole King Rule The Reunion Roost

Sophie B. Hawkins Sparkles In Ridgefield

By John Voket

A beloved pair of America’s most prolific contemporary singer-songwriters, and their original band of backing musicians, recently put on one of the best concerts of 2010 during a two-night stand at Mohegan Sun Arena. James Taylor and Carole King harkened back to their days as up-and-comers plying their earliest creations on the stage of West Hollywood’s Troubadour in a 2½ hour retrospective billed as the Troubadour Reunion.

On June 12, the first evening of their Connecticut stop, the two longtime friends and collaborators were on fire, thanks in great part to their supporting players, Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel and bassist Lee Sklar, famous in their own right as “The Section.”

According to an advance on the tour, the idea for Troubadour Reunion came together in 2007 after Taylor and King performed at the famed Los Angeles venue for the first time since 1969 to celebrate the Troubadour’s 50th Anniversary. The shows sold out immediately and garnered rave reviews from fans and critics alike.

The Los Angeles Times noted “the sense of occasion [and] weight of history in the evening” and Variety said “Taylor and King reminded us about the intensity of song, that the artistically-rich and commercially-viable are not mutually exclusive and how one tiny club continues to be a birthing room for some of this city’s most memorable music.”

Staging Preserved Intimacy

That tiny club intimacy was preserved somewhat, even in the cavernous confines of the Mohegan Arena, thanks to a spectacular in-the-round stage setting, multiple razor-sharp video screens, and a sound mix that was low enough to command even the chattiest of fans to hush up anytime either of the artists switched from singing to storytelling.

Another great component of the King-Taylor reunion was the opportunity to do good. At each of the 37 tour stops, seating options included cozy two-person tables surrounding the stage giving the more philanthropic or financially viable fans a stage-side view that imitated the setting of the duo’s 1970 performances at Troubadour.

The 120 “stage seats” available at each concert raise money for established charities, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Alliance for the Wild Rockies, along with more than 90 other national and local organizations.

“When we first talked about reuniting, we knew we wanted to bring the Troubadour to life,” Taylor said in a release. “These stage seats are one small way to pay homage. We also saw a national reunion tour as an opportunity to support the great work that charities are doing all across the US.”

No matter where one found themselves seated for this show, however, it was a sure-fire crowd pleaser of a set with an equal mix of duets and each artist adding instrumentation and/or backing vocals to the other’s hits.

While Taylor had already performed solo at the “Troub” in July of 1969, his concert with King a few weeks later marked her live debut as a performer after enjoying great success as a primary songwriter or co-writer on a number of previous charting hits like “You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”

Both of these numbers, delivered with a mix of intensity and sensitivity at Mohegan Sun, brought the audience to its feet. The former, which preceded the intermission, kept the crowd cheering long after the entourage had exited the room for a mid-show break.

Opening Flashback

The show opened appropriately with the first song the duo performed during their 1969 debut, “Something In The Way She Moves.” Besides the sweeping stage-wide video images projected to the audience, the stage was also spotted with fixed mini-cams that gave one the perspective of sitting beside King on the piano, or perched just above Kunkel’s simmering ride cymbals.

Following Taylor’s introductory number, King matched him to adoring cheers as the familiar opening chords of “So Far Away” rang out from her stately grand piano.

The duo then bowed to their band, delivering Kortchmar’s “Honey Don’t Leave LA.” Later in the evening, Taylor recalled his early days playing with Kortchmar in a blues band called Flying Machine.

“The best thing about being 18 and in a band is, you never realize what a fool you’re making of yourself,” the artist said laughing.

Among the other highlights of the King-Taylor reunion show were King’s “Jazzman,” “It’s Too Late,” and an amazing rendition of “I Feel the Earth Move,” which brought King out from the keyboard to work the crowd and the band into a howling frenzy by the final few bars.

Taylor also kept his fans appeased with a rollicking take on “Your Smiling Face,” a lovely “Sweet Baby James,” and one of his most well-received hits, “Fire and Rain.”

The final tune before a two-song encore was a heartfelt duet of “You’ve Got a Friend,” which was practically drowned out by several thousand appreciative attendees all singing along.

If you missed this tour, then don’t pass up a final chance to check out Troubadour Reunion during a two night stand scheduled for July 3 and 4 at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass.

Sophie B. Hawkins

One night earlier, on Friday, June 11, The Ridgefield Playhouse featured an equally crowd-pleasing show with Sophie B. Hawkins. This more eclectic and obscure artist is known for a pair of mid-’90s hits (“Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” and “As I Lay Me Down”) which sustained high ranking in the Billboard Top 10 for several months, and remains a radio staple some 16 years later.

Time has been a friend to Hawkins, as she trotted out no less than 20 songs ranging from quirky up-tempo numbers to smoldering ballads. Hitting the stage in colorful garb and thong sandals festooned with huge green grapes, she alternated between acoustic guitar and piano, breaking on occasion to pound an Ashiko drum.

While the enthusiastic audience responded warmly to virtually every song Hawkins played, their most animated reaction came when the performer’s long-haired dachshund Huckleberry wandered onto the stage. Hawkins described the pooch as the best producer she ever had, and said her canine companion often took up residence atop her grand piano during recording sessions, “and she never ruined a take.”

If any fault might be found with Hawkins set, it would be her over-reliance on the descending four-chord pattern that helped propel her biggest hits to an international audience. A few too many numbers balancing her nearly two-hour Ridgefield Playhouse set utilized that too-familiar style.

Nonetheless, it appeared that everyone in attendance was pleased with the vocal and musical diversity she exhibited during the rest of her show. An added appeal, like in the case of the Taylor-King reunion, was the opportunity to do some good.

Hawkins donated 100 percent of her on-site CD sales and a portion of her June 11 Ridgefield Playhouse concert proceeds to The Waterkeeper Alliance, one of the lead agencies working to protect and preserve the fragile environment following the disastrous BP oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast.