Q&A: Taj Mahal (The Musician) ?
Question by Zeppelin 911: Taj Mahal (The Musician) ?
(1) What is your opinion on (Taj Mahal) the artist ??
(2) Is he the first to master the (Folk/Blues) approach ?
(3) If making a list of the all-time greatest and most important Rock ‘N’ Roll artists , what number on the list do you think suits Taj Mahal ?
Best answer:
Answer by Wire&String (pro-home recording)
1. he is great, his first few albums are incredible and his ability to keep moving forward and blending island and african elements with the blues has kept his music fresh all these years, i love his old stuff and some of the newer stuff is excellent aswell. favorite albums: rising sons featuing taj mahal and ry cooder, giant step, taj mahal, the natch’l blues, dancing the blues, senor blues, and sacred island. favorite songs are leaving trunk, cakewalk in to town and the calypsonians.
2. no, there were many before him, he would be the first to tell you.
3. hard to say because he isnt really a rock and roll artist even though he had a good impact on rock. i would say that he belongs in the rock and roll hall of fame in there little roots and influences catagory.
Add your own answer in the comments!
Hello
1) I quite like Taj Mahal’s work, although I have to state I am most famililar with his well known tracks such as Statesboro Blues and She Took The Katy. He took a different route from Chicago Blues performers such as Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, and also avoided the gospel type mix of blues that BB King specialised in.
Folk/blues I suppose would be a good description for him. If you like his music Eric Bibb is comparable.
2) He was certainly not the first to master the folk blues approach. Most of the earlier pre-war blues singers straddled blues and folk. Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Sleepy John Estes and Blind Willie McTell (who wrote Statesboro Blues) were early writers of this approach. Taj Mahal was starting his career at a time when artists such as Led Belly, Big Bill Broozy were popular and Son House and Fred Mississippi McDowall were rediscovered. Even Muddy Waters was persuaded to release a “folk blues” album!
He’s also shown an openness to try new things and he is considered to be a scholar of blues music, his studies of ethnomusicology at the University of Massachusetts would come to introduce him further to the folk music of the Caribbean and West Africa. Over time he incorporated more and more African roots music into his musical palette, embracing elements of reggae, calypso, jazz, zydeco, rhythm and blues, gospel music, and the country blues—each of which having “served as the foundation of his unique sound.” According to The Rough Guide to Rock, “It has been said that Taj Mahal was one of the first major artists, if not the very first one, to purse the possibilities of world music.
3) Very hard to judge, there have been so many important Rock N Roll artists. Perhaps he would squeeze in the top fifty, but I don’t think he would make the top ten in the genre of blues artists.
1) I love Taj Mahal. I once read that he considered himself a protector of musicians from producers who might take advantage of them. Plus, he makes wonderful music.
2) He learned from the best. The more I learn about the blues, the more I realize that a lot of the songs he performs and records are not his originally. But that’s the best thing about it. Blues songs are up for reworking and personalizing. He studied with Etta Baker and adapted some of her songs and even had her play with him.
3) He really embraces a ton of sounds and learned a lot about music. That’s why he is so successful, I think. If I made a MVP rock n roll list, he would be on it for sure. (Probably in the top ten). But I don’t think that he did anything that someone hadn’t already done. For an MVP list, I’d have to suggest Muddy Waters, maybe, since he brought the Delta to Chicago, essentially, and inspired a lot of people like Taj Mahal.