Stylish new record proves that all vintage music isn’t found by bargain-hunting in a secondhand shop.
It was only two decades ago that Taj Mahal fans could set their watch by a new Phantom Blues Band album appearing every couple of years. After Dancing the Blues (1993), Phantom Blues (1996), Señor Blues (1998) and the live album, Grammy Award winner Shoutin’ in Key (2000), nothing further was released unless you consider the 2018 TajMo collaboration with Keb’ Mo’ and sharing the stage during festivals, live shows and the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise. That is, until Mahal gathered the troops for one more round, which resulted in the delectable Time being released a quarter-century after the last.
As Dr Seuss once remarked, “How did it get so late so soon?” Yet the octogenarian roots master is still going strong. He has a 22-date tour planned for summer, backed by the Phantom Blues Band with a ‘new’ record to tour behind. Actually, the songs on the album are new only in the sense that they were recorded in 2010 but unreleased until 16 years later. At least there is no need to unveil a new lineup, as the only personnel change has been to replace keyboardist Mike Finnegan, who passed away, with Jon Cleary on piano and Mike Weaver on organ.
It should surprise no one that Taj Mahal’s latest album is both unmistakably him and also a fresh evolution of his sound. All of his integral elements are there: tender soul intertwined with tartness; spacious roots, folk, blues and reggae beats; familiar feelings conveyed through a combination of old and really old tunes. And then there is his voice—still a fusion of charm, attitude and fine-grit sandpaper, just as it has been for six decades.
The result has been like rekindling an old flame with some ace musicians. There is not a been-there-done-that ring to it, although the listener will not feel stranded in some new-fangled exploration. Instead, there is the sensation of butterflies one gets from hearing an old favourite get his swagger back and his mojo working. As Ruthie Foster put in her liner notes for the album: “This is deep-groove, grown-folks music from a band that still plays like the night is young.”
The title track is undoubtedly the heart of the album. It was penned by Bill Withers and recorded as a demo, but never released. Time is a beautiful tune, introduced by acoustic guitar, light percussion, and pretty keyboard work before the soulful backing vocals and horns come in, paving the way for a tasteful guitar solo by Johnny Lee Schell, who channels the great Motown picker James Burton throughout the album.
The song is a mellow groove with just enough swing; a testament to Withers’ unique approach to music, his timing often defying popular convention. “I had a lot of reverence for the brother,” Mahal explains. “He was able to bring that acoustic guitar and just sing. He wasn’t trying to show up in sparkling platform shoes and jump up and down on stage. And it resonated so deeply with people, because there was nobody doing that.”
Every song on Time sounds like it was written for Taj Mahal, even though many were born decades ago, as in the case of the classic delta blues song Rowdy Blues, going back to 1929, when it was first recorded by the legendary Mississippi bluesman Kid Bailey. “Ain’t gonna marry ain’t gonna settle down.” The lyrics continue with verses about not needing to cry, having a home, waking up “cold in hand,” and appreciating a “nice and brown” love, before ending with a verse about a letter. For the occasion, Mahal set a ukulele on his knee.
As always, Mahal is able to find musical connections worldwide, as with Talkin’ Blues, a track that was penned by Wailers members Carleton Barrett and Lecon Coghil and appeared on Bob Marley’s 1974 Natty Dread. Marley’s son Ziggy adds guest vocals to the reggae tune. The island groove is continued on the creole-flavoured Wild About My Lovin, which is exactly the kind of effervescent song Mahal has perfected over the years with its slightly off-kilter beat and expressions of desire. It is the sole track on which he plays harmonica. The sparkling, skyward Life of Love, with full 9-piece band and three backing vocalists on the chorus singing “celebrate a life of love,” is a relatively new tune composed by Gary Nicholson and Steve Berkowitz, as is the prickly You Put the Whammy on Me.
And there are several songs decidedly off the beaten path. Ask Me ‘Bout Nothing (But the Blues) is a classic slow soul-blues ballad co-written by legendary record executive Don Robey and Henry Boozier. Robey was the first to operate a black-owned record label (Peacock/Duke Records). It was originally recorded and popularised by the great Bobby “Blue” Bland in 1969, and other versions came later from Boz Scaggs and Lucky Peterson. Mahal pays homage to the great Otis Redding on the sweet soul tune Sweet Lorene, first recorded in 1966 at Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and featured on Redding’s acclaimed fifth studio album, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul. The horn section of Joe Sublett (tenor sax), Lester Lovitt (trumpet) and Darrell Leonard (trumpet) evokes the legendary Memphis Horns, the Stax/Volt house band with Wayne Jackson, Andrew “Love” Jackson, Joe Arnold and Floyd Newman. The same horn section also augments Crazy About a Jukebox, which name-drops numerous singers and songs from the distant past as that unattainable gal was pressing numbers all night long. “She’s crazy about a jukebox, and I wish she was as crazy over me.”
These ten songs capture Mahal in his native mode: exploring new ideas and trying new things. He has done that since changing his name from Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr. and moving from Massachusetts to New York City, after having dreams while in college of Mahatma Gandhi, India, and themes related to social tolerance. At age 84, he is just happy to still be able to play music. About reuniting with the Phantom Blues Band, his response is, “It was time.”
