AMERICAN singer songwriter James Taylor is a man at the height of his powers.
If you thought he was producing brilliant music 30 years ago you're not wrong but to hear him now is to experience the sight and sound of a consummate professional at one with his art.
He arrived in Bournemouth on Friday night with a superb five piece band in tow. Avid readers of album and CD covers will know the names. Larry Goldings, keyboards, Steve Gadd drums, Jimmy Johnson bass, George Marinelli guitar and Arnold McCuller backing vocals. The business!
With an impossibly good sound for the corporate biscuit tin that is the BIC, Taylor and his band proceeded to deliver a blindingly good show. Often deceptively easy sounding but always with a soulful edge, his concert covered more than three decades of music. Old favourites mingled with new numbers including outstanding material from the excellent October Roads album. No one was going to be disappointed.
At 54 Taylor might look like a kindly academic about to deliver a paper on global warming but he's clearly a bit of a rock 'n' roller on the quiet.
Apart from his sublime delivery of self-penned classics like Fire and Rain and Sweet Baby James his covers of numbers included Up On The Roof showed affection and inventiveness.
His Steamroller Blues was raunchy and rootsy while How Sweet It Is (To Be loved By You) had everyone in the house swaying and singing.
Jeremy Miles