By Jenna Moore
ON SUNDAY, March 30, the legendary, GRAMMY Award-Winner Taj Mahal and his band — Bill Rich (bass), Robert Greenidge (steel drums), Tony Durham (percussion/drums) and Bobby Ingano (guitar/lap steel) — perform at the historic Lucas Theatre for the Arts at 7 p.m. for the Savannah Music Festival.
For the fortunate Savannahians who have tickets, you should expect to hear Taj Mahal’s signature blues sound influenced by reggae, funk, jazz, West African, Cajun and Caribbean styles. And even though the show is sold out, there will be a standby line available.
We had a memorable conversation with Taj. Here’s what he had to say!
Are you excited to return to Savannah?
Oh, yeah, I haven't been there for a long time. I have no idea what to expect, but, you know, it's all about good music and people who like good music, so I'll be glad to be playing. And my Mama is from the state just north of y 'all (South Carolina). Yeah, we know how to do it right in the South — looking forward to it!
What's your secret or daily routine to maintain and continue performing at such an outstanding level?
Well, first of all, it’s about playing the music you love. I don't ever play a song that’s not right. Never as I'm playing a song, do I get in the middle of it and wish I didn't have to play this song. No, no… So, first of all, play music that you really love.
And always play with like-minded musicians. Most of the guys that have been playing with me have been with me for over 50 years. I’ve had the same bass and rhythm section playing with me for decades — all the same guys. Oftentimes, the audience asks musicians, “Well, how do you know what he's going to play next?” They just do! It’s instinctual.
I never have a setlist… I don't write nothing down, but we've been playing together for so long, that they can tell by how I adjust the guitar or what instrument I pick up where we're going to go next.
It's my show! I play it as fast or slow as I want to!! Everybody has to keep up and be present in the moment. (Taj shares with a deep laugh).
Also, I don’t make music for corporations. Music is a creative cosmic law. They (music industry executives) had broken the natural law with the corporate music structure… they get to decide what comes next, what’s good and not the people.
Here, in this paradigm, music has been turned into a commodity.
Do you have any most memorable collaborations — past or present?
I mean, I'm enjoying a great collaboration right now with Keb’ Mo’ this absolute new album that we got out. We dropped a single called “Room On The Porch” so, check that out! You’ll recognize it right away because it's something that, again, it’s not what people are doing.
You ask about what would be the heights of what I've seen over the years. I would say, I have to say, opening for Ry Cooder. And all that time we spent opening for Otis Redding… it was a whole week while they were recording "Otis Redding In Person at the Whisky A Go Go" and “Live on Sunset Strip."
All those times he played and all those times he recorded, I saw all of that and it was one of the most amazing musical situations I’ve ever seen in my life.
The second would be opening for The Temptations on the Sunset Strip. I mean, for us, with the audience, it was devastating. You saw how fragmented the company in Los Angeles was because people hadn't heard music like this… they didn't know how to react to it because they'd never heard the music that we were playing. It wasn't on the radio… so, they didn't know they could clap and interact with us. But we suffered through it because we loved The Temptations.
And then, next would be Bonnie Raitt — going on tour with her — that was pretty exciting! I don't know how many weeks we were out on the road, but it was really great to play with her. I had known her since she was 18 and was just starting out in the business. I watched her develop into a really good musician. She chose the right direction.
To be honest, one of the most memorable moments of all was playing for Princess Caroline of Monaco. We played for her at her behest and request and it was really a great thing. I mean, probably one of the best memories for me.
Who are your music mentors and where do you draw inspiration?
I get to travel to hear music from different places and I've always listened to music from all over.
Half my family is from the Caribbean and half are from South Carolina. So, I mean I grew up with a wide arc of music and big ears. I hear the music of the Caribbean, Africa and Southern America. I hear our movement as Africans into the Western Hemisphere, it's in my blood. I play the music of my ancestors. Now, I might not understand the language you speaking, but I always understand that universal music.
I'll never forget being interviewed one time and some young guy, you know, totally innocent — he said, "So, what was it like when you first heard rock and roll?" I said, "It was a disappointment."
And he couldn't understand why — I said, “The prototype for rock and roll was living a complete sound of your environment.”
I see music as a continual flow, you know, with room for it to develop and evolve. I'm here as a musician because I'm here as a musician — it's a gift from our ancestors and culture — and all that kind of stuff.
The thing of it is, is that look… music is something that was given to us from the creator, in different ways — we heard the birds, we heard the wind, you know, and then we did all these diverse things to recreate music — this is a gift.
Occasionally, somebody figures out how to do it right and yeah the music that I connect with is created from musicians like Chuck Berry and Eugene Church, to name a few… I heard that and recognized it as rock and roll. It's really good!
I mean, there are songs that I sometimes look back on… but I don’t ever really look back, I look outward more than I look back, you know?
Did you always want to be a musician?
No, no, no… music was just the way I was raised. Coming along, I started seeing things and I didn't realize that I had a certain kind of vision for going forward about agriculture. That was one of my first pursuits — it came about just in the same way I came about music.
Somebody said the other day, you know, and he said, "Well, you didn't go onto farming, but you farmed music," and I thought that was a kind of an interesting concept.
I looked at him and said, "You know, you might be right."
Music was always an ancestral gift that accompanied most of what we did when we lived on the continent. And when we traveled to the Western Hemisphere, we brought it with us. Music was like a part of life — you breathe in and you hear music… you breathe out, you hear music.
Where I grew up listening to a lot of music as a kid, some songs definitely stand out more than others because I was raised earlier than in the music business. By the time I was five years old, there was still no big corporate control over the music.
The first thing that I got involved with was the voice of the piano, then I transitioned to the trombone and clarinet… I attempted to play harmonica, but that didn't really work. When I was about 13, 14, or 15, right around there, I heard Jimmy Reed on the radio — he was one of the guys that I really liked musically.
For me as a youngster, my dad and mom's music was either gospel, classical, swing, bebop, or the blues. They listened to all the great names from the 30s and the 40s. My parents were born in 1915, a month and a day apart.
My idea was to not be dependent upon commercial farming — or should I say corporate farming. Even back then, you just knew, like they did with everything else, it’s that same module in sequential order. In the search for making more money, the product is always going to start and the people are going to follow. And it's just true, you know?
Something I wish for every summer that I've been on this planet is that I want to eat nothing but the best vegetables and fruits. I dream of always having every meal be farm to table. As fresh as it can possibly be. It's like playing Russian roulette when you sit down to eat these days.
I always associated music and agriculture. Saturday nights… setting up the stage while the ladies put the food together… everyone dresses up in something nice, but clothes you could dance in and come down to the farm for dinner and a show.
What do you want Savannahians to know about your upcoming performance?
Mainly, depending on how they set it up, if you can't stand up and dance, you better learn how to chair dance! Just be there and be present. If you have musicians that you revere, you want to be present while they’re performing. It's not something just to see. It's something to really experience. Bring your attention and bring your full spirit with you.
And dancing is definitely allowed! It’s a way of communicating. That's what it's all about.
So, let's start this party right and let's have a good time!
We hear you prefer people dancing at your shows...
Oh yeah, please! Yeah. I mean the audience is a part of the performance. Understand that this is what's missing from American music. Corporate grabbed the music, but they didn't take the culture. Communication is created when you come to dance to the music — it shows us that you know what the music is and you like the way we play it… that’s the culture.
Something that has always annoyed me is not allowing a reciprocal kind of interaction between the band and the audience. It’s like we’re up here and you’re down there separated from each other… it’s a horrible concept. We appreciate the engagement and to see the crowd enjoying themselves!
Music is supposed to make you want to dance.
One day I was like, you know what? We need to tell these venues that there needs to be a place in the room where people who want to dance can get up and do that. Some people like to sit down and that’s fine, too… but other people want to dance because they like the way the band plays and the music makes them want to move. Let the ones who want to sit, sit and the ones who want to dance, dance!
While tickets are sold out for this performance, there will be a standby line available at each sold-out event for the Savannah Music Festival.