Mahal Hikes

Above the album worked the 'Robert Johnson, John Hammoond, Taj Mahal - Chicago Blues Festival 1991', and his release took place on 2021. The album has got songs with a total duration of more than an hour. A compilation is a compilation of original music.

February 6, 2015, Kauai, Hawaii: Under a 6000 sq. ft. pavilion, Taj Mahal assembled a score of musicians and members of his red-hot traveling band next to lapping waves of the Pacific. Some were friends from the Hula Blues Band, others, jazz legends who, like himself, are at the top of their game. Two sold-out concerts packed with ecstatic audiences who swayed, danced and rocked out with that sweet, powerful aloha spirit brought yet another wonder. The acoustics of the open tent pitched there next to the ocean, created an extraordinary sound quality. The recordings were terrific! Two CDs are necessary to share the harmony of those events.

One of the most prominent figures in late 20th century blues, singer/multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal played an enormous role in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues. Not content to stay within that realm, Mahal soon broadened his approach, taking a musicologist's interest in a multitude of folk and roots music from around the world – reggae and other Caribbean folk, jazz, gospel, R&B, zydeco, various West African styles, Latin, even Hawaiian. The African-derived heritage of most of those forms allowed Mahal to explore his own ethnicity from a global perspective and to present the blues as part of a wider musical context. Yet while he dabbled in many different genres, he never strayed too far from his laid-back country blues foundation. Blues purists naturally didn't have much use for Mahal's music, and according to some of his other detractors, his multi-ethnic fusions sometimes came off as indulgent, or overly self-conscious and academic. Still, Mahal's concept was vindicated in the '90s, when a cadre of young bluesmen began to follow his lead – both acoustic revivalists (Keb' Mo', Guy Davis) and eclectic bohemians (Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart).

Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo', two generations of American blues masters, reunite to release their second album together, Room On The Porch, following their GRAMMY Award winning album, TajMo (2017). This historic collaboration between two blues giants, converges their extraordinary talents for an album of original songs and covers. In this 10-song set, the title track features award-winning singer-songwriter Ruby Amanfu.

If you've ever caught Taj live solo, this recording, cut during an appearance in Germany, is what you've been waiting for. His sublime performances of "Satisfied and Tickled Too" and "Candy Man" are out of this world. While the inclusion of tuba on a few tracks does prove somewhat annoying, for the most part this is an excellent example of what makes Taj a treasure. - by Tim Sheridan, AMG

"A cultural blend of joy, love and harmony" - that is how Taj Mahal sums up those fruitful days in the idyllic studio in Kauai, in the course of which the "Hula Blues" band developed an unmistakable, individual and organic sound. The vibrant spirit of this meeting is abundant in every song. With effortless abandon the band plays a Mahal classic, "Mailbox Blues", a beautifully flowing instrumental, "Sacred Island" and a couple of songs "The Calypsonians", "Coconut Man", with subtle pop potential. The groovy Mélange of "Hula Blues" ranges from the festive to the sentimental and definitely marks a high point in Taj Mahals substantial discography. - Amazon.com