Taylor’s ‘Safe Haven’

I attended the James Taylor concert at the Hollywood Bowl, but I am not totally convinced Robert Hilburn did (“You’ve Got a Friend Still, but With a Twist,” Oct. 8). There were more shouts of “We love you, James!” than there were requests for favorite tunes, and furthermore, as a longtime fan of Taylor’s, I didn’t feel that I or any other true J.T. fan was “impatient” for him to “cut to the chase” and perform his old stuff.

Taylor did a fine job of gleaning material from his long career, performing songs from his “Greatest Hits” CD and his last two excellent CDs. This is no small feat, considering the amount of music in his repertoire. It is also nonsense that his albums since “Sweet Baby James” or “Mud Slide Slim” have been characterized by “far less distinguished material.” One of the most moving moments of the evening was when the crowd applauded (and many rose to their feet) during the song “Shed a Little Light,” from an album released in 1991, after the phrase “and we are bound together in our desire to see our world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong.”

LAURA JENKINS

Palmdale

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As far as my husband and I are concerned, all of James Taylor’s music stands as a “safe haven in a time of stress,” as Hilburn phrased it--not only his “landmark material,” but his later albums as well. Everyone in our section was singing along with every tune, not just “Fire and Rain.” Taylor’s music has stood the test of time and the vicissitudes of change, always affording us a place to return for a little grounding in these frantic times.

REBECCA S. HERTSGAARD

Anaheim Hills