About this concert:
Equal parts preservationist and visionary, Taj Mahal is the closest thing we have to an American griot. His music embraces the raw energy of field hollers, the rent-party gumption of early jazz, the urbane grooves of rhythm and blues, the church-derived cadences of soul music and the rhythms of West Africa, via New Orleans and the Caribbean. Most recently, The Recording Academy named Taj Mahal a 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, for creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.
On the heels of his triumphant 2023 concerts celebrating the legacy of Harlem’s famed Savoy Ballroom, the five-time GRAMMY winner returns with four nights of music including material from his new Concord Records album entitled Room on the Porch – his second collaboration with modern blues master Keb' Mo' and their first joint “TajMo” session in eight years.
Since his first release nearly 60 years ago with the Rising Sons, which he founded with Ry Cooder, Taj has been a cultural force, bringing blues culture to new generations.
His legacy is apparent everywhere these days, in the old-time string band sound of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the blues troubadours Eric Bibb and Corey Harris.
A bridge builder by inclination, he’s collaborated with a gloriously eclectic array of artists, from Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley to Los Lobos and Ben Harper (and that was just on the 2008 album Maestro).
PERSONNEL:
Taj Mahal: guitar, vocals
Jim Pugh: keyboards
Bill Rich: bass
Tony D: drums
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Up Next in Season 1
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Taj Mahal (On Demand)
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Equal parts preservationist and visionary, Taj Mahal is the closest thing we have to an American griot. His music embraces the raw energy of field hollers, the rent-par...
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Taj Mahal
Blues legend Taj Mahal in an illuminating conversation with SFJAZZ exectuite artistic director Terence Blanchard. They discuss Taj’s musical upbringing growing up in Massachusetts, his passion for world music, as well as the diversse range influnces that shaped his newest recording “Savoy”. Watch...
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Nate Smith + KINFOLK perform "Rambo"
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https://www.SFJAZZ.org/Digital
About this clip:
Drummer/composer Nate Smith and his KINFOLK band perform his composition “Rambo” from his 2021 album “KINFOLK 2: See the Birds” during his concert on September 22, 2022 as part of the 2022-23 Se...
