James Taylor played with his usual quartet (Gary Crocket on Bass and
Neil Robinson on drums though David Taylor was not on guitar; the guitarist
from JT's old band the Prisoners was on hand) plus saxophonist John Wilmott
and a trumpet player (who incidentally played with Us3) and played a simply
smokin', LOUD set of tunes, mostly from their earlier material and a slew of
covers (Booker T's "Green Onions," "Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love," "America"
from 'West Side Story,' Tom Scott's "Starsky & Hutch" theme plus, of course,
"Mission Impossible"). The rest of their material alluded to their rockier
side, only briefly pulling out the jazz and funk (to my dismay). But still,
the band slammed, pleasing jazzers, hip-hoppers, mods, grungers, even metal
types, in the crowd.
Nevertheless, it was a treat standing three feet away from JT and
his Hammond (plus learning a thing or two about organ playing technique!)
There were other LA A-jazz list members in the house, like West Coast
Harem's R. Scott (osof@aol.com) who was also viewing JT's organ grinding
from a antage point. The house was packed and JT and the boys went wild,
pouring vodka for people in the audience, and yes, having women dance on
stage during the closer (one daring lady proceeded to jump on top of JT's
organ (...er, the HAMMOND, I mean!) and dance.
Afterwards much of the crowd proceeded east on Sunset to convene at
Moguls, another club, for the After-Party, hosted by Hollywood/Acid Jazz
records and the Internationalist acid jazz club (I had to remind JT
personally to announce the afterparty onstage during the Roxy show!). JT and
the boys were there, chillin and checking out the bands PMJQ (whom
listmember Tony "DJ T-Bird" Reid plays keyboards for) kickin out da phat
jazz, and my band Jibe, who had to play a short, but pull-out-the-stops
phonkay set (we normally don't play like that, but that's what a big crowd
can do to ya! Oh yeah, mad props to PMJQ for letting us use their drumset
and bass rig), as well as acid lounge sounds by the band Uluteka.
It was a great night, I even chatted with JT and had him autograph
my "In The Hand of the Inevitable" CD (signed: "Elson, Peace! - James
Talyor"). My sax player and I also chatted with Nigel, JTQ's manager, who
also said they'll be touring Brazil in a few weeks, then go back to England
to record even more material....He also said that JT is going to start his
own label as well - watch for it.
San Francisco, you're next! Enjoy!!!! East coast, look out!
Elson
-30-
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Elson Trinidad
Los Angeles, CA, USA
elson@westworld.com * http://www.westworld.com/~elson
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