Cool and Steady Winwood Returns to Claim his Legacy-Will the Breeze Keep Blowing?

If you were "of-age" when the Spencer Davis Group made its mark and Traffic was a seven-letter word for jam session, you probably can't help think of Steve Winwood as a perpetual comeback act and somewhat of a disappointment. The psychedelic, jazz-infused, brooding, rhythmic and danceable anthems he created with these acts and Blind Faith have endured, but the man himself has never really tried to get back to the top of the mountain. He hasn't disappeared either, and now 37 years after "Gimme Some Lovin," Winwood has put together a new band, released a spare, organ-loaded live studio recording with more rock gravitas than the synth-pop into which he had devolved since his peak, and romped through a highly successful summer and fall tour. The aptly titled "About Time" and the artistically confident way he presented it to audiences are powerful reminders of Winwood's surviving genius, and have made people wonder whether we are about to see him elevate his legacy by, of all things, producing more great music and delivering more unforgettable performances.

Winwood has been on his second wind since the first Nixon Administration. Not that there is anything wrong with a twenty-hit wonder, who ought to have nothing to apologize for given the quality and quantity of his early output. But for as long as anyone can remember, he has been playing the role of rock and roll survivor. In 1986, after a stint in the "where are they now?" file, Winwood's "Back in the High Life" captured a whole new generation of fans. But it and the solo albums that followed were in the vein of his big 1980 hit "Arc of a Diver": at their best, they were top-notch production numbers with more hooks than a trout pond; and at their worst, they were Winwood-light: all too ready to be sold for beer commercials (as 1987's "Talking Back to the Night" was, to Michelob, reportedly before it was even released as a song. Ugh.)

For most of the 60's acts taking another shot at rock glory in the 80's, the first real messy legal battles, drummer deaths, divorces, and addictions were in the past. And the ensuing years (now decades) would make it clear who among them were mere shadows of themselves and who still had large shadows to cast. It has never been exactly clear which category Winwood, aka Mr. Fantasy, fit into. His old stuff has never gotten tired for fans and was given new life in widely embraced covers by the Blues Brothers, the Grateful Dead and Joe Cocker. He never really "jumped the shark," but neither has he made a clear artistic (or a really fun) statement in a long time. The appropriately titled "About Time," released on the artist's own Wincraft label, may finally be that statement; or at the very least, in the spirit of the about-to-come-out Beatles' "Let it Be Naked," it is stripped down, essential Winwood, and perhaps a better place from which to re-launch his bid for immortality. "About Time" is a collection of unexpected, can't-stop-tapping rhythms, patient and melodic improvisational guitar licks and the triumphant return of Winwood's Hammond B3 organ. It is organic music, seeming to spread out into open space like vapor from the shower that ultimately fills up the entire bathroom. But as good as it gets, this steam never quite fogs up the mirror with the enveloping freight train crescendo of a Traffic jam.

"About Time" has made a quiet entrance into the market. No pretenses of chasing the pop charts here; and without the industry expectations that may have greeted his earlier releases, it was more likely to be featured on NPR (it was) than MTV (it wasn't). The eleven track collection features Brazilian musicians Jose Piresde Almeida Neto on guitar and Walfredo Reyes Jr. on drums. It would be too much to expect the originality of Traffic's 1970 "John Barleycorn Must Die", but the jams are real, showing Winwood's desire to return to music-making of the sort that made him a legend. So as he went out on tour last June to support the album, Winwood, with a product worthy to reconnect him to the source of his credibility, found hospitable audiences among the old timers and the jam-band culture of 21st century young listeners. He toured first with the Dead, avoiding his 80's hits conspicuously, and forcefully taking ownership of the bona fides he earned in the 1960's by leaning heavily on the Traffic catalogue. He also boldly offered a stretched out, laid back version of the entire "About Time" recording in each of seven shows. Reviews of his performances throughout the summer and into the fall reflected a consensus that Winwood's mojo was back, major label woes in his past, and the audience
could tell. Poised perhaps even to steal "Feelin' Alright" back from Joe Cocker (ok, maybe not that good), Winwood even found a warm reception among younger fans who had been tutored by their jam band heroes String Cheese Incident and others about the up-tempo psychedelic chestnuts in the Winwood catalogue. Never a road rat by any stretch, however, the tour is already over now not even 6 months after the album was released. And before "About Time" or the revived performer himself really penetrated the consciousness of anyone but the most attuned fans, Winwood is back in the office or the studio, or perhaps relaxing at home, or wherever colossal recording and touring acts go in between their public moments.

All of this leaves the 55 year-old Birmingham, England native in an interesting place. He can embrace the "godfather" tag, and be as to jam bands as people wanted Neil Young to be for grunge (Young didn't and grunge disintegrated anyway); Or sort of like George Clinton was to the Lollapalooza scene (which resurrected Clinton but musically made much less sense). With Traffic on the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot, and the Bonaroo festival becoming an annual institution, his status as a greatest hits package is on safe and fertile ground. But with Winwood at the helm of his own label and reportedly serious about signing and producing new young talent, he certainly seems poised to write a more enterprising next chapter than that, and in the process, rewrite his musical legacy with a more inspired ending. Perhaps Winwood will follow the famous course of Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, who saw his own prematurely published obituary remembering him as a "merchant of death" and in horror, changed his legacy by establishing the Nobel prizes. For Winwood, that would mean tearing up the memory of mediocre songs like "Freedom Overspill" and "Talking Back to the Night" (and the little matter of the beer commercial) and picking up the thread from his inspired work of earlier days as he moves forward from here. "About Time" and the tour Winwood has just completed are at least signs that the next chapter will be worth reading.

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