DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTO
Asetta holds a vintage 1969 Rolling Stones issue featuring Allan “Jake” Jacobs.
Speaking about singer-songwriter Allan “Jake” Jacobs of Jake and the Family Jewels fame, Steve Asetta, saxophonist and conductor of Westville’s Lyric Hall Orchestra project, made no bones about it: “Jake’s voice remains unchanged — it may be even better. He is a true singer.”
Asetta will join Jacobs and musicians Jan Jungden, David Bobo Lavorgna and Bernie Soroko at Lyric Hall on Saturday evening for what has been described as “a rare hometown appearance,” a chance for the city to reconnect with one of its most prominent acts of a bygone era.
Jacobs, who moved to New Haven from Manhattan in the period just after John Lennon’s assassination in 1980, lived for a while with friends at a Harrison Street address in Westville, and later in a building near Yale where he was the building super. He had left an impressive musical footprint in the bustling Greenwich Village folk-rock scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, a hotbed of musicians and artists with many going on to gain national and international fame.
Bunky and Jake shared billing with Joni Mitchell.
How many musicians can claim to have shared a pop of Southern Comfort with the legendary Janis Joplin, or stage billing with Joni Mitchell, or a dressing room with the Everly Brothers? Jacobs can, but his nexuses with so many musical luminaries did not end there. While playing Greenwich Village at venues like The Bitter End, Jacobs said. he opened for artists Joni Mitchell, Dion and Jerry Jeff Walker among many others. One of his great thrills at the time was to learn that Bob Dylan had become a fan.
Though he appeared on a 1969 Rolling Stone cover and often receiving critical acclaim for his original music, the stratospheric commercial success achieved by many in his orbit has continued to elude Jacobs. Fortunately for fans and soon to be fans, Jacob’s legacy is still very much a work in progress.
Jacobs described his tenure in New Haven as a difficult time for personal reasons, but continued performing around the city and in Connecticut venues with various musicians, his name and music familiar to many from performances and recordings with earlier bands including The Magicians, The Fugs, and Jake and the Family Jewels, and with “soul mate” Andrea “Bunky” Skinner (performing as Bunky and Jake).
Keith Yarborough, Steve Asetta, the late Bunky Skinner, and Jake Jacobs.
A longtime fan, Asetta back in the day recognized Jacobs one evening at Toad’s Place, where Jacobs was working, and approached him about any possible band openings. At the time, Jacob’s band already included a sax player, but there was a need for percussionist who could sing vocals. Asetta got the job and said he immediately rushed out to buy a conga drum. It took a while for Asetta’s saxophone-playing acumen to get a fair hearing from the exacting Jacobs; but eventually, after a rendition of a roaring R&B classic, “Hard Work,” one evening, Asetta won the spot as the group’s saxophonist.
Early iteration of Jake and the Family Jewels.
Asetta counts himself among the 60 or so “Jewels” who have played with the storied artist in various iterations of the Family Jewels, and contributed to several cuts on Jake’s well-reviewed CD, A Lick and a Promise (Jake and The Rest of the Jewels, 2011).
Jacobs said he was drawn to music at an early age and relishes memories of having been taught to sing by folk icon Pete Seeger, who used to make occasional visits to his YMHA (Young Men’s Hebrew Association) camp at Bear Mountain. Jacobs said his Lyric Hall performance will open with a musical tribute to Seeger.
Jacobs recounts with clarity, feigning illness to avoid going to school (usually on Tuesdays) in 1956 particularly. His parents allowed him to settle in with the radio, from which he first heard the nacent sounds of the emerging rock and roll era. Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and others were working their magic on the airwaves; Frankie Lymon’s “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” could have easily been answered by one word: Music. “It was not long before,” Jacobs said, “I conned my folks into buying me my first guitar.”
A Lick and a Promise is designated as being in the “pop” category on iTunes. But one can forget trying to pigeonhole the fount of musical originality that flows from Jacob’s heart and mind. The myriad musical tributaries that inform his music include doo wop, folk, rock, R & B and the essential stuff of the singer-songwriter genre.
Jacobs, who is also a visual artist (School of Visual Arts) and painter, said he doesn’t write music in the abstract: “I write for painters and musicians and I try to write songs with color.”
Though music remains central to his life (“I still have songs to write”), Jacobs said, he has found that the key to happiness is to be grateful: “It has become more important in my life as I get older.” Fans of Jacobs and his music are also grateful to be able to see and hear this jewel of a singer-songwriter again.
Seating is limited for this event. For more information, visit the Lyric Hall website.
