Anticipation is in the air this Thursday, July 10, 2025 at Deal, NJ's Axelrod PAC as music lovers await a performance of Taylor Simon King, a Three American Troubadours concert which celebrates the music of James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carole King.
Inside the sleek and modern Axelrod auditorium, the lights dim and keyboardist John Colaiacovo, violinist Gary Oleyar, woodwind/percussion player Tommy LaBella, drummer John Rogers, guitarist Ralph Notaro, and bassist Buddy Allen take the stage.
After a video which focuses on the lives of James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Carole King plays, the Three American Troubadours — singers James Gedeon, Lisa Sherman, and Alice Leon — enter the stage performing “How Sweet it Is (To Be Loved by You).” Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, James Gedeon sings in his resonant voice, “I needed the shelter of someone’s arms/There you were,” while deftly backed by the ensemble on this 1975 James Taylor hit.
The crowd cheers and Lisa Sherman explains, “This music is the soundtrack of our generation,” before she’s featured on an emotional interpretation of Carly Simon’s “Anticipation” and Alice Leon sings lead on the 1971 Carole King folk-rocker, “Sweet Seasons.”
Gedeon thanks the audience for coming and introduces “a simple song about spending a summer night on a rooftop.” Here, he croons, “When this old world starts getting me down,” on the Carole King-composed hit for The Drifters and James Taylor, “Up On the Roof.”
Moving on to a number co-written by Carly Simon and Michael McDonald, Sherman sings with power and feeling on the soft rocker, “You Belong to Me,” and dances freely in her wide bell bottoms and flowing vest while Tommy LaBella renders a scintillating sax solo.
Alice Leon plays piano on a medley of Carole King songs including the soft rock tune, “So Far Away,” where she’s accompanied by Buddy Allen’s melodic bass line, and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” on an arrangement which features a lovely violin line rendered by Gary Oleyar.
Sherman reveals that, in 1968, Carole King moved to West Orange, NJ where she wrote the ensemble’s next song for The Monkees. On “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” Ralph Notaro impresses by playing the song’s distinctive guitar line while singing lead and concertgoers react with enthusiastic applause.
As a video rolls, Sherman sings “Attitude Dancing,” a Carly Simon rocker, which features Notaro on guitar and LaBella and Oleyar on sax and violin. Then, Gedeon introduces a song which he says, “James Taylor wrote when he was 20 years old,” before fingerpicking the iconic acoustic guitar intro and singing, “Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone,” on an intimate performance of “Fire and Rain.”
After explaining how two songs bracket Carly Simon’s real-life marriage to James Taylor, Sherman sings Simon’s debut hit, “That’s the Way I Always Heard it Should Be,” prior to segueing into “Coming Around Again,” her contribution to the soundtrack of the Jack Nicholson film, Heartburn.
Buddy Allen is featured on bass as Gedeon and the ensemble perform James Taylor’s Latin-influenced, “Mexico,” before Leon gives a spirited performance on “Chains,” a Carole King composition for The Cookies and The Beatles where LaBella plays harmonica.
Gedeon and Sherman sing to one another on James Taylor and Carly Simon’s 1974 remake of the 1963 Inez and Charlie Foxx hit, “Mockingbird,” prior to dancing off the stage to mark the conclusion of Act I.
During intermission, several concertgoers share their thoughts on tonight’s Taylor Simon King concert thus far. Remarks Ronnie from Ocean Township, “This is a great show! We know Lisa Sherman — we’ve seen her perform at local events — and she’s absolutely great, the song selection is terrific, and the variety, not only of songs but of the performers, is super.”
Comments Scott from Atlantic Highlands, “It’s a very good show! They do a lot of great songs. I like the singing and I especially love the saxophonist — he’s got a lot of energy!” Scott’s wife, Maggie, concurs, explaining, “I’m not really of this generation — I might be the youngest person here tonight — but I know most of the later songs and I’m enjoying the background information on the songs, so I’m loving it, too!”
Lastly, Esther from Oakhurst exclaims, “I love this show! There’s a lot of nostalgia here with the music bringing back a lot of great memories. The way the performers look and the way they’re able to sing like the original artists is phenomenal,” before concluding, “I listen to this music every day at home, but it’s especially nice to see and hear it performed live.”
As Act II opens, James Gedeon invites the audience to sing along on a medley of three James Taylor songs including “Carolina On My Mind,” where he sings and plays acoustic guitar accompanied by Ralph Notaro on mandolin and Gary Oleyar on violin; “Sweet Baby James,” which has audience members softly joining in singing on the song’s “Goodnight you moonlight ladies/Rockabye sweet baby James” refrain; and “Country Road,” where bassist Buddy Allen gets music lovers waving their hands in the air to the infectious country rock beat.
Alice Leon explains, “This next song was written on the New York City subway,” as she glides into a R&B rendition of Carole King’s “Beautiful” which features her strong vocal along with a bluesy Ralph Notaro guitar break, a jazzy violin solo from Oleyar, and a fusion-inspired piano improv by John Colaiacovo.
Three-part harmonies support Lisa Sherman’s dynamic vocal on Carly Simon’s “Haven’t Got Time for the Pain” before LaBella contributes a fluttery flute solo. Then, Gedeon asks, “Are there any Buddy Holly fans in the house?” prior to performing James Taylor’s 1985 version of the 1958 Buddy Holly soft-rock tune, “Everyday.”
Allen perfectly recreates the rumbling bass intro to Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” on an arrangement which has Shepard singing with feeling and Notaro wailing on a guitar solo. The audience claps along to a buoyant rendition of “Your Smiling Face” where Gedeon sings, “Whenever I see your smiling face/I have to smile myself/Because I love you,” on the 1977 James Taylor pop tune.
After Sherman reveals she “always wanted to be a Bond girl,” she sings with power on “Nobody Does It Better,” Carly Simon’s theme song from the James Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. Then, Alice Leon expressively sings lead on Carole King’s “It’s Too Late” on an arrangement which features ethereal soprano sax playing by LaBella in addition to expert rhythm section work by bassist Buddy Allen and guitarist Ralph Notaro.
Concertgoers sway their cell phone flashlights back and forth in time to the James Taylor folk-rocker, “Shower the People,” before Shepard does high kicks while belting out a moving arrangement of Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move.”
A highlight of the evening is the ensemble’s presentation of Carole King’s “Jazzman,” which features a strong lead vocal by Alice Leon along with wailing saxophone playing from LaBella, in addition to top-notch ensemble work by Oleyar, Colaiacovo, Notaro, Allen, and drummer John Rogers which culminates in a flurry of sound along with audience cheers, whistles, and applause.
After introducing her colleagues, Sherman gives a soulful performance of Carole King’s “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.” To conclude tonight’s show, Gedeon and Co. render a sweet, intimate version of Carole King’s composition for James Taylor, “You’ve Got a Friend,” where concertgoers sing along on the song’s “Winter, spring, summer or fall/All you’ve got to do is call” lyric before standing and cheering for the Three American Troubadours’ Taylor Simon King.
As audience members exit the auditorium, several take a moment to chat with Taylor Simon King concert producer, Franke Previte, the award-winning composer of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” and “Hungry Eyes” from the 1987 film, Dirty Dancing. Reveals Previte about tonight’s production, “It was my wife, Lisa Sherman, who had the idea to put this show together. Back in 2018, she went to a party with a girlfriend of hers where they were playing Carole King and Carly Simon songs and a gentleman started singing some James Taylor songs and Lisa just went, ‘Click!” — she had a lightbulb moment where she thought, ‘This is just too good not to do as a show,’ and came to me and said, ‘I’ve got an idea.”
Continuing, “Most people put together what they call ‘tribute shows’ but we don’t like to call this a tribute show, we call it a ‘celebration’ — a celebration of the music and the lives of these fine musicians,” Previte adds, “and we’re not celebrating one iconic songwriter here, but rather, three, with catalogs that are endless,” prior to concluding, “This show is a real baby boomers’ night out. People who come to see it get to go back in time, connect with each song, and fall in love all over again with this music.”
To learn more about the Three American Troubadours’ Taylor Simon King, please go to taylorsimonking.com. For information on great upcoming performances at Axelrod PAC — including The Doo Woo Project on August 14, Glen Burtnick’s Summer of Love on August 17, Magical Mystery Doors on August 20, Best of the Eagles on August 28, and Direct from Sweden: The Music of Abba on September 6 — please click on axelrodartscenter.com.
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