Clint Holmes: “James, Joni, and Me”

Songs by James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Clint Holmes performed with brio

By Alix Cohen

There are entertainers and there are entertainers. We north-easterners think of Las Vegas performers as mass market crowd- pleasers with neither finesse nor depth. Clint Holmes (yes, he also tours) rises above the fray.

Arrangements of familiar songs by Demetrios Pappas are like nothing you’ve ever heard. Change in tone and phrasing personalizes and shifts meaning. Additional eclectic choices are refreshing. Holmes’s own songs mine jazz roots with exceptional affinity.

New to me, James Taylor’s “There We Are”: “…drifting through space on a little blue ball…” opens gently. Holmes looks around the room getting his bearing. He LOOKS. This is not an artist whose lyrics sail over our heads. He clocks faces, connects, and affects.

WHOMP! “Your Smiling Face” erupts like a geyser. The performer beams. In constant sharp movement, he almost dances. Head, neck, shoulders, arms, an occasional knee jerk or lope across the stage emit electricity. Fingers play the microphone handle. A parenthesis confines itself to only rhythmic percussion (Jakubu Griffin) and vocal. We’re encouraged to clap in time. Spirits rise.

The iconic “Both Sides Now” (Joni Mitchell) drifts down like feathers. Cymbal shimmers. It’s rueful- not genteel and folksy. The band comes in on tiptoe. Holmes sings with unexpected gravitas, as if he’s seen trouble, but is emerging. Peter Calo’s guitar churns soul.

Also eclectic, “Traffic Jam” (Joni Mitchell) is close to rap. Holmes scats like a good horn. “Damn this traffic jam…I hate to be late/’Hurts my motor to go slow…” Enunciation is sharp, precise, but only a taste of galvanic skill.

The artist’s own “At the Rendezvous” describes his otherwise blue collar, Friday-night-jazz-singer-dad taking him, at 12, to The Colored Musicians Club (now a landmark), where he performed. “Omona teach you how to be cool,” his father said. And did.

Swinging from narrative to fast, complex scat and back again several times, Holmes lets it rip like nobody’s business. A call/response with percussion is fabulous. Guitar and bass (Lavondo Thomas) manifest bop as imperative.

“Mean Old Man” (James Taylor), backed by only Pappas’ piano, is hip 50s in feeling. Holmes perches on a stool ruminating: “Clever you/Walkin’ me through/Willing to lead the blind/Just in the nick of time…” It’s understated; both bitter and grateful.

“A Case of You” (Joni Mitchell) arrives similar in feeling, beginning with a stage whisper. The artist eschews its usual start/stop phrasing, creating an embroiled ballad, besotted and suffering.

We slide directly into “Shower the People” (James Taylor) with the fervor of a preacher. Heads and feet bob all over the club. Audience is invited to sing several choruses. It’s a mantra. There’s a campfire feeling. Guitar sounds like a sassy hummingbird. Bass twists, dips, whirls, and splits much like a Hines brother. (masterful tap dancing)

In Holmes’ opinion, “How Sweet It Is” is James Taylor’s best song. Piano flutters. Vocal comes in breathy, theatrical- from the pulpit, in a boxcar, picking fruit. Arms at his sides for perhaps the first time tonight, passion emerges. What most think of as a “little song” morphs to expression of a universal need.

“If Not Now, When?” another of Holmes’ own songs reflects back to a Cancer scare the artist had years ago. “I started to think of all the things I was procrastinating about: “ “…running out of time/Running through my time/ Running past where I’ve been/But if not now, when?…I need someone to save me from myself…” ‘Eminently resonant.

The show, both blistering and honeyed, is a wow. The band is great. Clint Holmes should not be missed.

Photos by Alix Cohen

Clint Holmes: James (Taylor) Joni (Mitchell) and Me
MD/Piano- Demetrios Pappas
Drums- Jakubu Griffin, Guitar- Peter Calo, Bass- Lavondo Thomas
54 Below https://54below.org/