For J.D. Souther, the call to action came from Nina Simone a little over two years ago—or at least from her music. The formerly prolific singer-songwriter had hit a creative cul de sac. He hadn’t recorded since 1985. He had moved from his longtime base in Los Angeles to Nashville and was spending time, lots of it, living his life and doing just about everything but writing and playing music.
“I was listening to ‘Little Girl Blue’ and it just took me over,” explained Souther. To top it off, he was listening to another voice from his past, Ray Charles. “I always believe him when he sings,” added Souther. “And something happened. I got hungry for the music I was hearing when I first fell in love with it.” It wasn’t lightning or an external force that hit him, but something more internal, something deep inside his very psyche. Voices from his past and the music he heard rekindled a creative energy that had been relatively dormant for about two decades. So Souther sought out jazz players in the Nashville area, and soon hooked up with saxophonist Jeff Coffin (of the Flecktones), trumpeter Rod McGaha and pianist Chris Walters. Souther was on his way, and, as he called it, “out of the woods.”
Backed by Coffin, McGaha, Walters and other Nashville jazz session players, Souther went into the studio and recorded all new material for the critically acclaimed If the Word Was You in 2008, followed by a digital-only live EP, Rain, in late 2009, both on Slow Curve Records. In addition to gigging at clubs around Nashville like a jazz lifer, Souther hit the road, doing dates both solo and with a small group.
He’s clearly excited by music again. Souther is playing his hits and new material, with a band that thrills him and suits his dusky, countrified yet bluesy voice. He’s even playing a little tenor sax, his original instrument. This is not a middle-aged rocker like Rod Stewart plowing artificially through the Great American Songbook, but a singer-songwriter who’s found a groove that befits his music, old and new.
Although not necessarily a household name in the jazz community, for many baby-boomers, the name J.D. Souther should ring quite familiar. Souther was a close friend and compatriot of seminal Southern California country-rockers Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, among others. At one point he even considered joining the Eagles as an original member. Seeing himself as a superfluous addition to his friends’ band, Souther declined the opportunity, but continued to write songs for and with that group’s co-leaders and principal songwriters, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. In addition to having a successful career of his own as a singer-songwriter, recording artist and co-leader of the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, Souther went on to write or co-wrote many a hit record for others, including “Best of My Love,” “Faithless Love” and “New Kid in Town.” Recently, the reunited-for-the-umpteenth-time Eagles released a single of Souther’s song “How Long,” which had appeared on his first solo CD for Elektra back in 1972, about the time this writer first saw him perform, in a solo gig at the Main Point, a coffeehouse outside Philadelphia. It was a hit, albeit nearly 40 years later.
Songwriters, if they’re good enough and lucky enough, may reap the benefits of some hit singles—no news there. But in Souther’s case, that storied track record belies a deep passion and affinity for jazz, going back to his days growing up in the Amarillo, Texas, area. Souther’s father was a big-band singer who exposed his son to the classic jazz sounds of the ’40s and ’50s. “He loved those classic horn players, like Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins.” Souther started playing the clarinet when he was 10, moving over to tenor saxophone as soon as he could. His mother also loved vocal music and introduced him to opera and show music. Souther said that even as a little kid he knew the words to so many songs. “Here I am at 12 and I know all the words to Yipp Harburg songs. Can you believe that?” he said, chuckling. “Yeah, I was a weird little kid.”
That weird little kid also picked up the drums and was soon doing union casual gigs as a drummer—playing rockabilly or jazz or just plain dance music. Eventually, he realized that he would have to leave Texas to find more regular work as a musician. Arriving in Southern California, he ended up befriending people like Browne, Frey and Ronstadt, and the die was cast. About that storied time, Souther said, “It was a very unique community of hard-headed individuals.”
Full report on > http://jazztimes.com/sections/tangents/articles/25695-j-d-souther-his-roots-are-showing
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