Winter, spring, summer, or fall
All you've got to do is call
And I'll be there
You've got a friend
-- "You've Got a Friend," Carole King (1970)

A devoted supporter of the arts, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter is performing benefit concerts on behalf of the symphony and the American Symphony Orchestra League today and tomorrow at downtown's Copley Symphony Hall. The windfall from the two sold-out shows couldn't come at a more crucial time for the perpetually strapped San Diego Symphony, which is facing yet another economic crisis.

Thanks to his intensely loyal following, Taylor's own career is seemingly impervious to any commercial constraints or whims of the marketplace. But the 47-year-old troubadour has grown increasingly concerned over the tide of anti-arts sentiments sweeping Congress and much of the country.

"The state of the arts is lamentable," he said from New York, speaking on a car phone that often made his sonorous voice sound like Darth Vader being electrocuted.

"It's unfortunate that our society can't be more actively supporting of the arts. I understand what the arguments are about, and I think there's an extent beyond which government involvement is inappropriate. But compared to other Western nations, we do almost nothing, and we need to support art."

Taylor, who scored a 1971 hit covering Carole King's "You've Got a Friend," sighed.

"It's sad to see the movement to dismantle arts funding, and to see it politicized this way. And it affects very specifically what the quality of life is for a lot of people in this country. To assume the marketplace can support everything worth hearing and seeing is wrong.

"The idea that everything should fit into a value system of capitalism is really restricting what we can see, because an orchestra comes from a pre-capitalist time. Obviously, many orchestras are doing a good job, to the extent they can, of getting corporate support. But it's difficult, and it's such an important part of our culture."

Taylor has embarked on the first leg of a tour that finds him performing with symphonies across the country. But San Diego is the only city where he is donating his time. Credit the long friendship between the family of Taylor's wife, actress Kathryn Walker, and the family of Warren Kessler, who served as the San Diego Symphony's board president from 1989 to 1993 and as its chairman from 1993 until this September.

Between 1957 and 1961, Walker's sister, Sally, and Kessler's sister, Karen, were roommates at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. A bond also developed between their families, who visited each other at their respective homes.

Walker, who married Taylor in 1985 (his first wife was singer Carly Simon), ran into Warren Kessler a few years ago in Santa Fe, N.M., where they traded phone numbers. After the first of Taylor's two sold-out SummerPops shows here last year at the Embarcadero, the singer and his wife had dinner with Kessler and his wife.

Kessler extended an open invitation to Taylor to perform with the symphony at Copley Symphony Hall. The singer readily accepted.

"The problems with the symphony have become significantly acute, so it's wonderful that James is doing two benefits when our needs are particularly great," Kessler said. "It's an incredible thing he's doing; we're paying his expenses and he's donating his services."

Gross ticket revenues from the two sold-out concerts are $217,000. The symphony and the American Symphony Orchestra League each will get 50 percent of the net profit, according to a symphony spokeswoman. The spokeswoman said Kessler -- who was out of town last week -- will ask Taylor and the ASOL to donate the ASOL's portion to the symphony.

Do The Right Thing

Taylor acknowledges that the tie between his wife and Kessler "had a great deal to do" with his decision to perform here on the symphony's behalf. But, he stressed: "That doesn't diminish in any way the need to do this. It's the right thing to do, to offer support."

Knowing that Taylor admires the music of Dvorak, Kessler told the singer he could fulfill any musical fantasy he wanted with the San Diego Symphony -- including conducting. A flattered Taylor declined the offer to wield a baton.

But he is taking advantage of his orchestral tour to extend his repertoire and perform Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," George Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm" and other classic American songs.

"I'll also try my hand at what you might call 'art songs' and some (Aaron) Copland-like treatments," he said. "It's sort of a way of making the transition between the classical portion of the program and my material. And there are certain segments we're just doing ourselves, with drums, bass and piano."

Asked his criteria for deciding which of his songs best lend themselves to orchestration, Taylor said: "Because of the nature of an orchestra, which has a certain weight and size, we have to do songs that are less rhythmically demanding -- although we are doing 'Only a Dream in Rio' and 'Frozen Man.'

"Some things suggest an orchestra and some don't. And we've paid a bit of attention to favorites people might want to hear orchestrated, like 'Carolina in My Mind' and 'Fire and Rain.' "

'Very, Very Rusty'

Taylor, who concedes he is "very, very rusty reading music," made his orchestral debut several years ago with John Williams and the Boston Pops. That performance was sufficiently well-received to encourage him to undertake a tour with symphonies from California to Connecticut.

But working in an orchestral setting can be a double-edged sword for pop singers who came of age in the rock 'n' roll era. Those capable of rising to the challenge can reap tangible rewards; those who can't face major pitfalls.

"It closes things down and makes them narrower, in terms of what you can do with improvisation," Taylor noted of his orchestral collaborations. "On the other hand, it expands it into this amazingly rich harmonic thing. But it's somewhat daunting if you're a pop musician, to be in the company of people in an orchestra, who have studied so seriously. To a certain extent I feel like a bull in a china shop."

But his foray into the orchestral realm won't have any impact on his next album, which he now is preparing to record.

"It's just more of the same. A number of the songs seem to deal with transitions and transformations. But that's so general; it's like saying: 'They're about life on Earth and elsewhere,' " Taylor said.

"I don't want to have people get the impression (playing with orchestras) is what I do now. This is a departure for us, and hopefully it will lead us in a new direction. But next summer we're going out with our full 10-piece band. I think people recognize that's definitely where I consider my musical home. This is what I like to do, and there are a million different things and variations to try."