Last Albums: James Taylor - American Standard (2020)

In 2022 I wrote a blog post on The Rolling Stones' Blue & Lonesome as part of Bloggerhythms' Last Albums series. Then Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and their friends ruined the whole thing by by releasing Hackney Diamonds two years ago. Despite that, I'm taking my chances that 76 year old James Taylor won't let me down too and release another album, even though that might not be such a bad thing.

In 2020, Taylor released a set of tunes from the Great American Songbook, and it's a good one. American Standard is a fourteen track record of cover tunes from the man who is often credited with jump-starting the entire 70s singer-songwriter movement.

Taylor is no stranger to covers. Even though he's a songwriter of great importance he's recorded many singles written by others, most notably, Carole King's "You've Got A Friend," his only Billboard #1 hit from very early in his career. He also charted with "How Sweet It Is," "Handy Man," "Honey, Don't Leave L.A.," "Up On The Roof," and "Everyday." They're from a wide range of influential artists and composers, including Holland-Dozier-Holland and Buddy Holly. He also released a whole album of other people's songs in 2008, simply naming it Covers. He turned them all into JT songs.

On American Standard Taylor reaches back even farther by mining the Great American Songbook, but he's shunned the ususal big band arrangements and orchestras with string sections, again remaining true to the "James Taylor Sound." As always, his laid back arrangements incorporated everything from folk to light jazz.

These are songs our parents and grandparents loved, including "My Blue Heaven," "Moon River," "The Nearness Of You," and "It's Only A Paper Moon." Taylor even interprets two works from Rogers and Hammerstein musicals: "Surrey With A Fringe On Top" from Oklahoma and "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" from South Pacific. He also reworks George Gershwin's "Ol' Man River" from the late, great composer's opera, Porgy and Bess.

The only question mark is the star's interpretation of Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child." While Taylor's version isn't a failure his voice just doesn't seem to possess a enough grit and soulfulness to pull it off.

There are a lot of renowned musicians on the album, including all-star Jerry Douglas on dobro, Lou Marini on woodwinds, percussionist Luis Conte and Steve Gadd on drums. Jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli co-produced the record with Taylor.

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Last Albums discusses music that was recorded as new material and intended to be released to the public as a complete album but not necessarily the last one. Live albums, greatest hits or "best of" collections and compilations do not count, nor do posthumous releases of leftover tracks cobbled together to make a final album.

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