Mending Boney James finds new energy in music

Barbara Rose Entertainment

After a brush with death, saxophonist Boney James was "filled with a sense of gratitude of being alive."

Last year, in the middle of making his most recent record, the March release Contact, contemporary jazz saxophonist Boney James was driving home from a concert when his car was rear-ended. James' jaw was fractured, he had a gash on his chin that required 14 stitches, and two of his teeth were knocked out.

"It was really scary for me as a sax player to have those kind of injuries to my mouth," recalls James. "I need that for my life, really."

Though he has had to adjust his embouchure or the shape his mouth makes when playing, James, who shares a bill with Will Downing on Saturday at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, fully recovered. And he was able to put several months down time to good use fine-tuning the songs for Contact.

"I think the writing really benefited from the extra time I was able to spend just thinking about that without practicing," says James. "I definitely was filled with a sense of gratitude of being alive, and I really just poured myself into the music."

Even before his accident, the normally sunny James was thinking about going in a more upbeat direction for his 13th studio album. His previous album, 2009's Send One Your Love, was a "late-night, romantic" CD featuring the 50-year-old's take on slow jams by Stevie Wonder, Barry White, and the Stylistics. For the follow-up, he wanted to go in the opposite direction.

"Some of these songs had more of an energy even as I was starting, which is the first reason why I called it Contact. I thought of an airplane propeller being spun around," he says.

The title took on more meaning as James progressed through the songwriting process and added the unusual -- though not unprecedented -- touch of writing lyrics for four of his compositions. When it came time to record, James tapped a number of young R&B singers, including Destiny's Child member LeToya Luckett, Grammy and Tony-award winner Heather Headley, actor and singer Mario, and Donnell Jones to breathe life into the songs.

"It was just like casting," says James of picking his guest artists, none of whom, except Headley, he had ever even met before.

"You get a song and you imagine in your head the kind of voice it's going to take to bring it to life, and then you sort through your various options to match the song with the best singer."

James isn't traveling with a vocalist, so fans won't get to hear the new vocal songs live Saturday, but James will be playing a broad selection of material from throughout his 19-year solo career.

Raised in Massachusetts, James picked up the sax at age 10 after a brief flirtation with the clarinet. Early on, James was influenced by fusion and R&B players, particularly the late Grover Washington Jr., whom James eventually befriended shortly before his death in 1999.

In high school, the family moved to California, and James joined a band that opened for the likes of the Yellowjackets and Flora Purim.

Attending college at UCLA, James actually got his degree in history, but the entire time he was eyeing a music career.

"I knew going into my sophomore year that really I wasn't that interested in college and that I was going to be a musician," he recalls. "I just felt like I had to finish and get my degree, so I did. I was playing music at night and dragging myself into class in the morning."

After graduation, James struggled for a few years, delivering pizzas as much as gigging, before he got his first big break playing with Prince cohort Morris Day in his post-The Time band. James worked for seven years as a sideman for the likes of the Isley Brothers, Teena Marie, and, most influentially for James, Bobby Caldwell.

Since making his recording debut in 1992, James hasn't had much time for side gigs. He has already started work on his 14th album. And he recently completed a score for "Model Minority," an indie film directed by his wife, actress Lily Mariye ("ER").

"After the accident, music itself has become such a wonderful thing, since I realized I could play again," says James. "I think my playing has a little more energy to it. People have said that they feel there is an extra passion added to my playing. I guess that's some of the gratitude at being able to still do it."

Will Downing and Boney James

8 p.m. Saturday at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, 255 N. Main St. Tickets: $49, $54, $60, $65, and $75. Tickets available at the box office, by phone at (901) 576-1200, and through Ticketmaster. For more information, visit thecannoncenter.com.

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