For Taj Mahal, music is a living, growing thing.Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard "I walk with the energy of music every day. I don't have to turn it on to hear it play." - Taj Mahal Taj Mahal (täzh məhäl`, täj məhŭl`), mausoleum, Agra, Uttar Pradesh state, N India, on the Yamuna River. It is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and the finest example of the late style of Indian Taj Mahal is rapping. In your ear. Through the tele- phone. You're tempted to put him on speaker phone. You want the whole office to hear. It's monotonous and punctuated with puckered lips and measured breaths and rapping and tapping - and that's the point. "The record companies got the whole thing constipated con·sti·pat·ed adj. Suffering from constipation. . You know what I'm sayin'?" Taj Mahal says. "That's all you get!" He's talking about most of the stuff young music artists put out today. Stuff packaged in a studio. Stuff with no originality, no soul. The 62-year-old Taj Mahal isn't into that stuff. He's into what he's always been into - live music. What he calls "organic-based" music, made right before your very eyes. The "natch'l blues," if you will. "We make what you hear right there," he says, emphatically. "You just can't be afraid to take or make a move out there. It's an organic approach that just doesn't seem to quit." Sure, he named himself after one of the Seven Wonders of the World Seven Wonders of the World, in ancient classifications, were the Great Pyramid of Khufu (see pyramid) or all the pyramids with or without the sphinx; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with or without the walls; the mausoleum at Halicarnassus; the Artemision at Ephesus; , but Taj Mahal is anything but arrogant. Or vain. He's a bluesman extraordinaire ex·tra·or·di·naire adj. Extraordinary: a jazz singer extraordinaire. [French, from Old French, from Latin extra and a living legend Living Legend may refer to:
n. The historical and scientific study of music. mu  si·co·log "
has any intention of slowing down - "What do you mean, 'until
I drop?' I don't see that in my future." - but this show
might well sell out.
He's been here before Taj Mahal was the grand "reopening" act when the McDonald went from shuttered movie palace to wide-open musical venue on Sept. 6, 2001. And you can be sure he'll return with his sometimes smooth, sometimes gruff and gravelly grav·el·ly adj. 1. Of, full of, or covered with rock fragments or pebbles: a gravelly beach. 2. Having a harsh rasping sound: a gravelly voice. voice, and in his trademark Hawaiian shirt Hawaiian shirt n. A colorfully patterned short-sleeved sport shirt. [From the fact that the style originated in Hawaii.] and wide-brimmed straw hat. This time, however, he won't be playing with his Phantom Blues Band. Now, it's the Taj Mahal Trio, with Bill Rich on bass, Kester Smith on drums and Taj Mahal on guitar, piano and banjo banjo, stringed musical instrument, with a body resembling a tambourine. The banjo consists of a hoop over which a skin membrane is stretched; it has a long, often fretted neck and four to nine strings, which are plucked with a pick or the fingers. . But don't expect things to be all that different from that show 1,303 days ago. "This is like a day in the life of guys who like to play," Taj Mahal says from Durango, Colo., where he kicked off this latest tour a week ago with a performance at the Abbey Theatre Abbey Theatre, Irish theatrical company devoted primarily to indigenous drama. W. B. Yeats was a leader in founding (1902) the Irish National Theatre Society with Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, and A. E. . It's all good, is what he's saying. "What I do, from night to night, is ensure that we party. And make sure there's room for dancin'," he said of the McDonald Theatre. "You want a better show? Dance! You want an exciting show? Dance!" Taj Mahal has been performing for more than 40 years now, but he didn't win his first Grammy until 1997's "Senor Blues" album. He followed that up with a second Grammy for 2000's "Shoutin' in Key." Both won in the best contemporary blues album category. Taj Mahal's most recent album, "Mkutano," a compilation of songs from the trio and the Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar in East Africa, was just released in February. It demonstrates the breadth and range of both his influence on the musical world, and what influences him. His music is a stew of influences His is a career and repertoire that encompasses the Chicago blues This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details. This article has been tagged since June 2007. , Memphis soul Memphis soul is stylish, funky, uptown soul music that is not as hard edged as Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring tasteful, melancholic, melodic horns, organ, bass, and drums. and country blues, as well as African, Caribbean, Hawaiian, Cajun and Latin influences. "My perspective is cultural and world-based," Taj Mahal told freelance writer Sean McDevitt in 2000. "It's always been a global perspective. `Even in the early days, when nobody knew me, they'd go, 'Well, that album is perfect, but what was that calypso Calypso, in Greek mythology Calypso (kəlĭp`sō), nymph, daughter of Atlas, in Homer's Odyssey. She lived on the island of Ogygia and there entertained Odysseus for seven years. song doing on there? What does that got to do with it?'" Of the trio's visit to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, Taj Mahal told Marquee Magazine that the Culture Musical Club's "music is amazing. They were open to the sea, everything that came from China, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the Arab influence from the north and other African influences." In addition to recording 39 albums since his 1968 debut, simply titled, "Taj Mahal," the man has also recorded several movie soundtracks and appeared as an actor in movies, too. He even played the gatekeeper in 1991's "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey." And if you saw "Sounder" at the McDonald Theatre in 1973, maybe you didn't realize that Taj Mahal composed the film's soundtrack. It's the truth, it's actual. Everything the man does is "satis- factual." Mark Baker can be reached at 338-2374 or mbaker@guardnet .com. CONCERT PREVIEW Taj Mahal Trio With: Eugene blues guitarist David Jacob-Strain and his band When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St. Tickets: $30 and $35 through TicketsWest outlets CAPTION(S): Taj Mahal has recorded 39 albums since his debut in 1968. He didn't win his first Grammy until 1997 with his "Senor Blues" album. He received another Grammy for 2000's "Shoutin' in Key." |
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