The Texas-born Parks’ guitar work is best appreciated in the talk box guitar intro in The Royal Scam’s ‘Haitian Divorce’ and the guitar intro in Aja’s ‘Josie’
Apart from prominent drummer Steve Gadd, another illustrious musician, Dean Parks, is with the touring band of superstar singer-songwriter James Taylor’s concert on April 8 at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Texas-born Parks is a guitarist whose work can be heard on the records of a staggering number of artists : America, Anita Baker, Bobby Bland, Chris Botti, Michael Buble, T Bone Burnett, Joe Cocker, Natalie Cole, Rita Coolidge, The Crusaders, Neil Diamond, Julia Fordham, Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau, Billy Joel, Kenny Loggins, Lyle Lovett, The Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, Aaron Neville, Joe Sample, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Sonny & Cher, Rod Stewart, and the list goes on …He is best...
The first time I worked with James, or at least his band, was the MusiCares Person of The Year Tribute show in 2006. I was called in at the last minute to try to emulate his acoustic guitar parts for all the guest artists singing JT songs in his honor. And all in the wrong keys. James only sang a couple songs at that show, but in 2012, I joined the tour for a couple months playing electric guitar and pedal steel.That was with Sonny & Cher on their “comeback” tour in 1969.
The rest of James Taylor’s band members are bassist Jimmy Johnson , keyboardist Kevin Hayes , and vocalists Kate Markowitz, Dorian Holley, and Andrea Zonn .SoundStripSoundStrip