James Taylor: “American Standard”

Fantasy FAN00619
Format: CD

Musical Performance

Sound Quality

Overall Enjoyment

In his liner note for American Standard, James Taylor describes the album as “a collection of guitar pieces, with solos and support from my regular family of players.” Taylor has often covered tunes by songwriters — including Chuck Berry, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and Otis Blackwell — whose work is part of the great tradition of American songcraft. The 14 tunes on American Standard are all from the Great American Songbook, all but one of them pre-dating rock’n’roll — as Taylor writes, “These are songs I’ve always known.”