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FEATURING:
Taj Mahal, vocals, guitar, piano, banjo
Kester Smith, drums
Bill Rich, bass |
One of the most prominent figures in late 20th century blues, singer/multi-instrumentalist and multi-Grammy winner, Taj Mahal has played an enormous role in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues. Insisting that, “in the end, ultimately music plays you, you don’t play the music,” Taj Mahal has explored a multitude of folk and roots music from around the world including; Reggae and other Caribbean folk, Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Zydeco, various West African styles, Latin and even Hawaiian. Over the years, the American griot, who plays over 20 instruments - has shared the stage and recording studio with, among others; Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews Band, Bonnie Raitt, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, Bob Marley, The Neville Brothers and The Rolling Stones. His countless collaborations include soundtracks and tributes, such as; Red Hot + Riot (tribute to Fela); Blues Brothers 2000, Someone Like You and Phenomenon and guest appearances in the films, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The Songcatcher, Rosewood, Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, among many others.
Taj Mahal was born Henry St. Clair Fredericks in New York on May 17, 1942. His parents — his father a jazz pianist/composer/arranger of Jamaican descent, his mother a school teacher from South Carolina who sang gospel — moved to Springfield, MA, when he was quite young and while growing up, he often listened to music from around the world on his father's short-wave radio. He particularly loved the blues and early rock & rollers like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.
While studying agriculture and animal husbandry at the University of Massachusetts, he adopted the musical alias Taj Mahal (an idea that came to him in a dream) and formed Taj Mahal & the Elektras, which played around the area during the early '60s. After graduating, Mahal moved to Los Angeles in 1964 and, after making his name on the local folk-blues scene, formed The Rising Sons with guitarist Ry Cooder. The group signed to Columbia and released one single, but the label didn't quite know what to make of their forward-looking blend of Americana, which anticipated a number of roots-rock fusions that would take shape in the next few years. The album they recorded sat on the shelves, unreleased until 1992. Mahal’s release as a solo artist was the self-titled debut in early 1968 whose vintage blues sounds made it unlike anything else on the blues scene at the time. It came to be regarded as a classic of the '60s blues revival, as did its follow-up, Natch'l Blues. The half-electric, half-acoustic double-LP set Giant Step followed in 1969 and taken together, the three recordings built Mahal's reputation as an authentic yet unique modern-day bluesman. During the early '70s, Mahal's musical adventurousness began to take hold; 1971's Happy Just to Be Like I Am, heralded his fascination with Caribbean rhythms and the following year's double-live set, The Real Thing, added a New Orleans-flavored tuba section to several tunes. In 1973, Mahal branched out into movie soundtrack work with his compositions for Sounder and the following year he recorded his most reggae-heavy outing, Mo' Roots.
Taj did a a variety of side projects, including a musical score for the lost Langston Hughes/Zora Neale Hurston play Mule Bone that earned Mahal a Grammy nomination in 1991. The same year marked Mahal's full-fledged return to regular recording and touring, kicked off with the first of a series of well-received albums on the Private Music label. In 1997, Mahal won a Grammy for Señor Blues. Meanwhile, he undertook a number of small-label side projects that constituted some of his most ambitious forays into world music. 1995's Mumtaz Mahal teamed him with classical Indian musicians; 1998's Sacred Island was recorded with his new Hula Blues Band, exploring Hawaiian music in greater depth; 1999's Kulanjan was a duo performance with Malian kora player Toumani Diabate. In 2000, the Hannibal live recording Shoutin’ In Key, gained yet another Grammy for the master.
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