by Ethlie Ann Vare
HOLLYWOOD (The Hollywood Times, Oct. 16) I don’t care if you’re a Boomer or Gen Alpha, you can hum along to a Jimmy Webb song. He’s won every songwriting achievement award and been inducted into every songwriters hall of fame since he hit the charts in 1967 with both “Up Up and Away” performed by The Fifth Dimension and “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” done by Glen Campbell. “MacArthur Park” has been recorded by some 500 artists, according to Webb, ranging from Stan Kenton to Weird Al Yankovic. At age 80, he’s still at it.
This first of two nights at the legendary Catalina Jazz Club on Sunset Boulevard celebrated both the landmark birthday and the release of Yours For The Taking: The Found Songs of Jimmy Webb, a collection of new old tunes. As in, new performances of songs he had written over the years. “Every songwriter leaves a wake of discarded material behind,” notes Webb. Why leave them stuck in the back of the closet?
The two-hour set was more talking than singing, which is just as well, since Webb’s singing voice is not his strong suit. Think “An Evening With…” rather than a concert, and Webb has anecdotes about every great singer from the last 60 years. This farm boy from Oklahoma has either written for (or gotten high with) Glen Campbell, Judy Collins, Johnny Rivers, Gordon Lightfoot, Frank Sinatra, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, Barbra Streisand, Nina Simone, Isaac Hayes, Art Garfunkel, Linda Ronstadt, Tony Bennett… the list goes on. If someone charted in the 20th century, Webb probably has a story about them.
There were familiar tunes for the crowd to sing along with — “Up, Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” even “MacArthur Park” — as well as some that people were unlikely to know, like “Winter Clothes,” a tune he had written for Frank Sinatra. (That one actually was found in the back of a closet, by a fanatical fan in Denmark!) He didn’t play “Wichita Lineman,” to the chagrin of one of my tablemates, or “Galveston,” or some other favorites. The ones he chose showed off his symphonic piano chops and obviously held fond memories for him.
This debut celebration was just the start of a promotional tour for the new album, which includes an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on October 25 and a PBS Great
Performances special, Yours for the Taking: The Found Songs of Jimmy Webb on Oct. 30. We should all be that productive at 80.
The Catalina Jazz Club
6725 Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
323-366-2210
catalinajazzclub.com
