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Review
Taj Mahal's debut album was a startling statement in its time and has held up remarkably well. Recorded in August of 1967, it was as hard and exciting a mix of old and new blues sounds as surfaced on record in a year when even a lot of veteran blues artists (mostly at the insistence of their record labels) started turning toward psychedelia. The guitar virtuosity, embodied in Taj Mahal's slide work (which had the subtlety of a classical performance), Jesse Ed Davis's lead playing, and rhythm work by Ry Cooder and Bill Boatman, is of the neatly stripped-down variety that was alien to most records aiming for popular appeal, and the singer himself approached the music with a startling mix of authenticity and youthful enthusiasm. The whole record is a strange and compelling amalgam of stylistic and technical achievements -- filled with blues influences of the 1930s and 1940s, but also making use of stereo sound separation and the best recording technology. The result was numbers like Sleepy John Estes' "Diving Duck Blues," with textures resembling the mix on the early Cream albums, while "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" (even with Cooder's animated mandolin weaving its spell on one side of the stereo mix) has the sound of a late '40s Chess release by Muddy Waters. Blind Willie McTell ("Statesboro Blues") and Robert Johnson ("Dust My Broom") are also represented, in what had to be one of the most quietly, defiantly iconoclastic records of 1968. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
Read About This Recording
A major force in the blues during the past 30 years, Taj Mahal sings, and plays guitar and harmonica. Throughout his career he has revived older classics and obscurities in their vintage style and performed new music that has helped keep the idiom alive. In addition to country blues, Taj Mahal has explored folk music, reggae, R&B, zydeco and music from West Africa, Hawaii and Latin America.
Born Henry St. Clair Fredericks in New York, he adopted the Taj Mahal name when he became a professional musician. His father played jazz piano while his mother sang gospel music. Attracted early on to the blues, Mahal was playing locally in Massachusetts by the early 1960s and was in a group with guitarist Ry Cooder for a time.
In 1967 he made his recording debut as a leader and from then on his fame grew. Mahal bridged the gap between old-time bluesmen and the rock world, collaborating with a wide variety of artists and stretching the blues in many directions. For a time he gained notoriety for utilizing a tuba section on some of his music and he worked on soundtracks including Sounder.
In the 1980s Mahal explored the Hawaiian guitar and he later wrote the score for the Langston Hughes/Zora Neale Hurston play Mule Bone. He has also joined forces at times with World Music musicians and has remained quite active up until the present time.
Three numbers are repeated from the self-titled Taj Mahal release but there are also memorable versions of "Frankie & Albert," "Dust My Broom," "Corinna" and a medley from Sounder that shows Mahal's musical evolution during his formative period.
—Scott Yanow
Contents
Leaving Trunk; Statesboro Blues; Checkin' Up On My Baby; Everybody's Got to Change Sometime; EZ Rider; Dust My Broom; more.
Taj Mahal, Jesse Ed Davis, Ry Cooder, James Thomas, Gary Gilmore, Chuck Blackwell, Drums; Bill Boatman.
CD Special Features
• A classic album revisited
• First time on CD in the US!
• All original art
• Liner Notes by Stanely Crouch
• Vintage photos
• Digitally Remastered
• Taj Mahal's self-titled debut instantly establishes him as one of the great missionaries and visionaries of the blues.
Tracks + Soundclips
| Taj Mahal | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
1. Leaving Trunk | 4:51 |
|
2. Statesboro Blues | 2:59 |
|
3. Checkin' Up on My Baby | 4:55 |
|
4. Everybody's Got to Change Sometime | 2:57 |
|
5. EZ Rider | 3:04 |
|
6. Dust My Broom | 2:39 |
|
7. Diving Duck Blues | 2:42 |
|
8. Celebrated Walkin' Blues | 8:52 |
Details and Credits
- Label: CBS
- Release date: 1968
- Contemporary Blues
- Electric Country Blues
- Electric Blues
- Modern Acoustic Blues
- Folk-Blues
| Album Credits | |
Performance Credits |
|
| Bill Boatman | Guitar (Rhythm) |
| Charles Blackwell | Drums |
| Gary Gilmore | Bass |
| Sanford Konikoff | Drums |
| Taj Mahal | Guitar |
Technical Credits |
|
| Baron Wolman | Photography |
| Bob Irwin | Producer |
| David Rubinson | Producer |
| Don Peterson | Photography |
| Guy Webster | Photography |
| Howard Fritzson | Art Direction |
| Lily Lew | Packaging Manager |
| Stanley Crouch | Liner Notes |
| Vic Anesini | Mastering |
Taj Mahal
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