Review by Ira Kantor
Next year marks 50 years since Jim Croce, the everyman who became a musical king for a meteoric 18 months, then tragically died in a plane crash at the age of 30. Yet it’s fair to say that Croce has never really left us. His indelible song catalog still dominates the airwaves due in large part to the Pennsylvania native’s combination of tender creativity and ability to microcosmically encapsulate the human condition and all its associated foibles.
While Croce’s son A.J. is physically one face with his father, musically, his performance palette is much more multi-faceted. Still, during this 100-plus minute show, A.J. did a terrific job of inviting the sold-old crowd into his father’s worldview and work mindset, culminating in the playing of a dozen classic Jim Croce tunes. However, A.J. also made sure to showcase his own individuality via his own songs and influence homages. This made for an intimate experience riddled with wryness and humor a la Tom Waits. A.J.’s anecdotes about performing at funerals drove this point home.
With a throaty rasp in his singing voice, Croce was equal parts humble and enlivened on stage, peppering his performance with tales about family, his upbringing, his father’s multi-years road to success, and their shared love of blues and R&B. Really, all that was missing was the handlebar mustache and cigar. “You can tell me to shut up, I don’t know that I will,” A.J. matter-of-factly told the Baby Boomer crowd early on. While this drew laughs, the applause was much louder — makes sense considering that those in attendance wanted to hang on to their “photographs and memories” of Jim for as long as possible.
Kicking things off at the piano with “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” Croce would alternate between keys and guitars throughout the show. Backed by industry veterans Gary Mallaber on drums, David Barard on bass, and James Pennebaker on guitar, Croce let the emotion of the night carry his performance. One minute he would frenetically tap his foot at the piano while playing Ray Charles “Mess Around” vamps; the next he would slow things down to ensure he was channeling his father’s spirit as much as possible.
Highlights included the lush “Operator (“That’s Not The Way It Feels”) complete with a tale of how Jim penned the song while in the Army after unavoidably eavesdropping on a payphone conversation (“Who remembers payphones? Who remembers phone booths?” the younger Croce would ask the crowd); “One Less Set of Footsteps;” “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be A Brighter Day;” and “Walkin’ Back To Georgia,” replete with group humming. Then there were the unexpected uplifters — a key example being when A.J. segued from gospel piano melodies into a vibrant cover of Billy Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing.”
Through A.J., the night marked a fun scavenger hunt of Jim Croce factoids. We learned he was a big Sam Cooke fan (“Nothin’ Can Change This Love” was covered during the show), held two Master’s degrees from Villanova University, and that before releasing his seminal You Don’t Mess Around With Jim album, he was convinced this was his last chance to succeed in music. This element of bittersweetness was even more apparent during the show’s encore when A.J. sang the eternal “Time In A Bottle.” Before launching into the track, Jim’s original demo filled the auditorium. While it didn’t differ too noticeably from what would become the Number One hit, Jim’s warm voice and lilt recalled the impactful sparseness of Simon and Garfunkel’s original “The Sound of Silence” from their first album.
This is going to ultimately sound cliché but there’s simply no better way to phrase it. Seeing this show made it abundantly clear that A.J. Croce has a name, he’s unashamedly proud of it, and he intends to carry it with him like his daddy did. In doing so, he has our respect, our attention, and our gratitude.
