While recording "The Union," his 2010 album with Leon Russell, Elton John began to think he might set aside the gloss of his mid-to-late-career albums and return to the stark presentation of his earliest work. "I should just let it rip," he told me back then, as we recalled with glee his early 1970s concerts with bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson.

Mr. John has since taken action and, with producer T-Bone Burnett, recorded "The Diving Board," out this week. It's a deeply satisfying, age-appropriate update of the moment in 1970 when he became a superstar, rocketed by a series of shows at the Troubadour, a Los Angeles rock club.

"At 66, I've made a record by going back to the basics," Mr. John said late last month by phone. "To say I'm happy with it would be an understatement."

He's right to be proud. Here, on what is his best solo album in at least two decades, Mr. John seems revitalized, as if recalling what made him the wonder he was for much of the '70s. "These songs could've been on 'Tumbleweed Connection' or 'Madman Across the Water,'" he said, mentioning two of his early '70s discs. But they are not retreads or an attempt to sound as he did then. It's music played with fire by a man in his mid-60s who isn't trying to be anything other than who he's become.

'The Diving Board' is the singer's best solo album in two decades. Getty Images for Clear Channel

Mr. John credits Mr. Burnett for encouraging him to strip down his music and make what for the most part is a trio album. The "Diving Board" sessions flowed from the first date. "It was like starting over again," he said. "I felt so relaxed."

Mr. Burnett knew the sound he wanted to capture. He had attended one of those August 1970 shows at the Troubadour, sitting perhaps 20 feet from Mr. John. "It was mind-blowing," he said by phone. "A star is born. You could feel it. Those moments come along when people seize them in an extraordinary way." (To hear Mr. John live from that era, check out his disc "11-17-70.")

The opportunity to work with Mr. Burnett arrived during a down period in Mr. John's career, one of the most storied in rock. In 2006, he released "The Captain & the Kid," revisiting the characters of his 1975 disc, "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy." By Mr. John's standard, it was a commercial flop.

"'The Captain & the Kid' was important to me," Mr. John said. "The record company dumped it and I was discouraged." But "The Union," also produced by Mr. Burnett, energized him, as did listening to albums by James Blake and John Grant, pianist-songwriters with what he called "authentic voices." Motivated, he decided he didn't want to make what he called "bland, boring pop albums."

Mr. Burnett suggested Mr. John jettison his group at the time, bringing in drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Raphael Saadiq instead. "What are we selling here? A piano player and a singer," Mr. Burnett said. "Let's put him in that frame and let's strip it back to something that was completed about Elton.

"Of course he's not going to get the fire he had when he was 20," Mr. Burnett added. "But there's the intensity, the expression of intensity, that comes out when you're older."

Throughout the album, Mr. John's piano is the centerpiece. "This is the most piano-oriented album I've ever done," he said. "It's bizarre. After all these years. . ."

Mr. John's playing is bright, assertive and ranges across variations on pop, rock, gospel and the blues. On the sultry "My Quicksand," Mr. John said he channeled his inner Nina Simone. "She's my ultimate hero." Burnished by time, his singing voice brings appropriate character to the ballads and the uptempo numbers as he moves from quivering intensity to raw blues barks and shouts.

In their roles, Messrs. Bellerose and Saadiq could not have been more discreet. Jack Ashford, who played tambourine on countless Motown hits, joins in on a few cuts with equal sympathy. Most of the tracks were recorded in one or two takes, Mr. John said.

Bernie Taupin, Mr. John's collaborator on more than 30 albums, has written melancholic lyrics for "The Diving Board" in which the narrators review their pasts, occasionally with bittersweet regret and always with a sense of what's been lost.

But there is also joy in the album: "I've never been in a place where there's so much happiness," Mr. John said. "It's contagious. I really don't mind getting older, and you can't ask for more than that." In January, he and his spouse David Furnish welcomed their second son, Zachary. Though Mr. John underwent an emergency appendectomy during the summer, he said he now feels great.

As for the music, he said: "I feel I'm at the best part of my career."
