Review: Taj Mahal @ Brooklyn Bowl

Taj Mahal Trio @ Brooklyn Bowl, Sept. 20

Photo and Words: Grace Beehler

With a 50-year musical career under his belt, Taj Mahal and his band – Kester Smith on drums and Bill Rich on bass – took to the stage at the Brooklyn Bowl in late September with an arsenal of nearly perfected country blues tunes. Taj Mahal began performing in 1961 and has since developed and donated to the revival of traditional acoustic blues. The simple, innocent and beautiful songwriting took center stage at the Bowl, and the always-wonderful atmosphere at the bowling alley-music venue certainly added to the intimacy of the show.

Mahal started off the set on electric guitar, singing both original and traditional country blues songs about the simplicity of living in the country, going fishing with your girl and a good dose of jealousy, like Checkin’ Up On My Baby and Gone Fishin’. While Mahal draws inspiration from across the globe – like the reggae, Caribbean and West African influences drawn from his father’s Jamaican heritage – the twangy harmonica, bright and steely guitar and gruff vocals are an unpolluted preservation of the sounds of Robert Johnson or John Estes. His bluesy guitar solos brought to mind his contemporary southern rockers/bluesmen – the Allman Brothers.

While his song introductions were almost entirely indecipherable and mumbled, Mahal’s vocals have only grown stronger over the years; but in this case time has only enhanced the roughness of his country blues. Mahal played the keyboard for a few songs and then switched to the acoustic guitar for the rest of the set, playing Corinna full of slow and sweet guitar picking. Mahal brought his daughter Deva Mahal, a member of the opening band Fredericks Brown, out for the crowd favorite Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes. The song was changed from a romantic husband-wife lullaby to a lullaby about paternal love, with Deva singing in a deep, husky voice not unlike her father’s, “lovin’ in my daddy’s eyes.”

Related Content

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter