James Taylor can still recall the blast of hot air hitting him when he took the stage in Tucson once upon a time.
He canโt give you the exact date off the top of his head, but it was summertime and they were outside.
It ranks to this day as the โhottest gig I ever played.โ
โIt was 110 on stage. It was outdoors, and with the lights Iโm sure it was 115 on stage,โ Taylor, the Grammy-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter, recalled. โWe were cooking.โ
It shouldnโt be anywhere near that hot when Taylor, 68, plays the Tucson Arena on Sunday . For starters, the sun will have gone down, and he will be indoors.
But donโt be surprised if Taylor generates a heat wave with his 10-piece band.
โItโs like the main reward of having a successful career, that you can support a band like this and comfortably tour and have actual sound and lights,โ Taylor said during a phone interview last week from a concert stop in Canada. โItโs a very satisfactory thing.โ
Taylor has been with several of his band members since his 1970 sophomore album โSweet Baby Jamesโ and its single โFire and Rainโ catapulted him into bonafide commercial success after several years of struggling to find his musical footing.
Arnold McCuller, who has been on board Taylorโs band 45 years, is the senior member. Several of the players have side projects and solo recordings: Sax player Lou Marini plays with the Blues Brothers. Trumpet player Walt Fowler does orchestral and band arrangements for TV, and pianist Larry Goldings tours Japan and Europe with a jazz band. Guitarist Michael Landau also picks up jazz gigs, and drummer Steve Gadd and bass player Jimmy Johnson both have their own bands. Fiddler Andrea Zonn just released a solo album in the fall, and backup singer Kate Markowitz has a solo recording and songwriting career.
โThatโs a long-winded way of saying that this band is really an excellent group of musicians,โ Taylor said. โThey have been around the block a few times and they know what theyโre doing. โ
And on Sunday night, they will be doing a lot.
Taylor divides his show into two sets, broken up by a short intermission. With a catalogue of iconic hits โ โCarolina In My Mind,โ โFire and Rain,โ โSweet Baby James,โ โCountry Road,โ โYouโve Got A Friend,โ โShower the People,โ โMexico,โ โSomething in the Way She Moves,โ โHow Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You),โ โDonโt Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,โ โSteamroller,โ and his latest album โBefore This Worldโ featuring the seasonally apt single โAngels of Fenwayโ โ Taylor has more than enough material to get through a three-hour performance.
โThey want to hear 10 or a dozen of those songs in a performance,โ he said of what his fans expect from him each night.
โSatisfying that takes up a lot of the set. We use every minute of our three hours. We come off stage with about five minutes left of when the place usually tells you they want you off stage. It is a challenge, sort of balancing the set with the three paradigmsโwhat the audience wants to hear, what the band wants to play and getting enough of the new material in. We manage it. We juggle it.โ
Tucson has been a regular stop for Taylor throughout his career, with concerts every few years. In those visits, heโs gotten to know the community and its residents beyond what youโd discover in a tourist guidebook.
โI wish I had more time to be in Tucson because I would love to go up and hike in Ventana Canyon,โ he said, adding that one of his close friends is Tucson holistic health guru Andrew Weil. โItโs such a beautiful place. Itโs one of my favorite spots.โ
Except in the summer.
โHow did people survive without air conditioning?โ he asked. โYou know they say itโs a dry heat, but itโs hot.โ
