COMING SOON! COVERS
September 30, 2008 on HEAR MUSIC
2008 Emmy® nomination! ONE MAN BAND Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special 
Watch the Emmys® Sept 21
Photos:Ellyn Kusmin, Rob Fortunato |
Welcome to our July newsletter! This month, singer, Kate Markowitz, shares the experiences of her nearly 20 years' working relationship as back-up vocalist with James and his "Band of Legends". From touring, recording and performing literally hundreds of concerts and other events, Kate's unique perspective offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life on the road and in the studio. When did you start working with James? In April 1990 I was asked to sing back-up for a show in Japan, live from the Budukon, celebrating Earth Day. It was to bring together American, Brazilian and Japanese artists to focus on environmental conservation. When I found out that James was the big name act, I said YES! It was thrown together fast and I was singing back-up for everyone. It was great and hectic. With just a few days to put it together, there was no time for the usual nerves. Everyone just focused on learning the parts (especially the Portuguese lyrics--phonetically!). After that show, James and Peter Asher asked me to join the band for that 1990 summer tour. I was so happy and surprised. Doing that show in Japan was literally one of those “in the right place at the right time” moments in my life. We’ve worked together-- touring and recording--ever since. That’s 18 years now. I can’t believe it.
How are the back-up vocal parts created for a new record or on tour? Is it a collaborative or an individual effort? I think that people have the idea that the singers come up with their own back-up vocal parts. That's not true when it comes to singing with James. James has a very clear idea of what he likes. He is open to our ideas--and ours is definitely a collaborative process--but James often conveys to us every note he wants us to sing, as though he’s heard each part in his head already. James either sings our parts to us or he plays them, individually, on guitar. When he sings the really high parts, in a girl-falsetto, it’s pretty funny. We try the parts and we see what works, but even on the recent covers album (all songs that were other people's music), James still had a concept about the back-ups vocals. I think that James's voicing of back-up vocal parts has become part of his sound over the years. It’s pretty cool, the way it comes together; it evolves but it’s his vision, for sure. Tell us about the recording sessions for "Covers" this past January. What was that like? Working on this live record of cover tunes, last January: that will be filed away in my mind as one of the best times I’ve had working with James. James' barn was set up like one of the great recording studios, in this beautiful setting in the Berkshires, a snowy, winter wonderland. Arnold (McCuller), David (Lasley), Andrea (Zonn) and I were in our vocal booth, with James in a booth to our right, the monitor engineer in front of us. Steve (Gadd) was across the room, Luis (Conte) next to him, the engineer’s booth to our left. And behind us, we could see the snow falling in the trees, outside our window. It was about as idyllic as it could be, with all of those great musicians all playing live, and all of us singing live and with the best engineers recording us. That kind of recording doesn’t happen much these days…everybody’s always adding vocals later, layering things, and not all at the same time. It was just so much fun.
Tell us something about James that you most admire. I think I admire James's ability to hold on to the joy factor in his life, even after seeing him go through a lot over the years. He's also held onto this insanely curious side with a totally obsessive interest in how things work. He’ll be putting together some complicated model or toy for his sons, or browsing through catalogues for some particular tool he’s been searching for (like some great tool-sharpening machine that will end up on his bunk in the tour bus!). Or, he’ll spend hours watching a show on how to construct the best pond on the family property or maybe how to make a perfect slab of cement. He’ll get really excited about it. One minute he’s like some college professor, giving you the definition of some obscure word, or detailing some event in history, and the next minute he’s doing something completely stupid or silly to crack you up. What are some of the most memorable moments you have had working with James over the years? I don’t think it would come as a surprise that if you get the opportunity to work with James Taylor for any length of time, there would be hundreds of musically- inspiring memories. But what stands out for me--almost as much as the music--is what a great friend James has become to me over the years. We’ve had so many really great times traveling on the road and then we’ve shared some big losses in this band. We’ve also had real grief, together and separately, in our own personal lives. To see how James moves through these things with his own sense of dignity or acceptance and to see how he comes out the other side--that’s what I think of when I think of him. That’s inspiring to me. I think it's some sort of light and true strength, and a force to carry on. It’s clear that James’s music gives people strength. I hear it all the time from my friends and from his fans. The best example I can give you is what I witnessed myself just after 9/11. We were in the middle of a tour, on a short break, back at our homes on that day. Our next show was supposed to be in 3 days. I couldn’t believe we were expected to get on planes, trains, whatever… to get to Portland, Oregon, for our show that weekend. I admit, I was scared, and I did NOT want to get on any kind of a plane. And frankly, I was a little mad. And I thought, who was going to come out for a show, so soon after this awful, terrible tragedy?
Well, we were told that we were expected to show up and, somehow, we all got there (from all over the country) in time for the Portland show. As it turned out, I was totally wrong--the show was packed. So.. we’re doing the show and the singers--Arnold, David, Val (Carter) and I-- were downstage next to James, two on either side, to sing “Shed A Little Light”. When we started the song, singing those lyrics, I looked out at the audience, and they were all standing, just listening, with tears streaming down their faces. I looked through the crowd and literally everyone I could see was crying, and not just tearful, but really crying. And standing there next to James, singing that song with him, feeling this amazing energy coming from him…it was so hard to get through it, but it was so, so powerful too. And when we finished, the audience just cheered for a long, long time. They were cheering and crying at the same time. It was one of the most amazing performance experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve never talked about it with James, but I realized that that's what he could "do", after 9/11, and maybe he knew that. That is what he can do. And I get to be a small part of that and it’s fantastic; it makes me feel really lucky. Copyright ©2008. All rights reserved. |
