Taj Mahal is a once in a generation musician, whose insatiable curiosity and openness has fueled his distinctive career. He celebrated his eclectic style during a series of concerts at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley. KNKX captured one of these exclusive performances at the club from Mahal and his band.

While he is often described as a blues musician, Mahal is more likely to mix his blues with reggae, African and Caribbean music, creating a hybrid sound all his own.

He is one of the first major artists to connect the musical dots between American blues and world music. And that insatiable curiosity led him all over the planet, creating and recording with musicians from Africa, India, and the South Pacific.

He said that he grew up in a house filled with a wide variety of music — his mother’s gospel, his father’s Caribbean music, jazz from New York City, and the shortwave radio that tuned him into music from all parts of the globe.

Mahal said that for him, “music was like breathing” and that he was always just curious about the background and lineage of songs and styles.

In terms of particular musicians, he cited Ray Charles as a big influence on his direction. He started taking piano lessons as a child, but apparently his teacher told his mother, “Don’t waste your money on lessons, he only wants to play boogie woogie.”

As a college student in Springfield, Massachusetts, Mahal studied agriculture and ethnomusicology but also started performing as often as he could.

In the mid-1960s, he made his way to California, where he teamed up with a teenaged Ry Cooder for a short-lived group called The Rising Sons. The group was one of the first interracial bands of that time, which was likely an obstacle to their mainstream success.

Some strong solo albums followed, but the lack of commercial breakthrough did not deter Mahal from finding his own path. He incorporated West Indian, Caribbean, jazz and reggae, folk and gospel into his mix.

In the 1980s, he moved to Kaua’i and started recording and touring with his Hawaiian group. His current quintet includes musicians from Hawaii, Trinidad and Tobago.

Along the way, Mahal made a series of successful children’s albums and scored the musical Mule Bone, which earned a Grammy nomination in 1991. His first Grammy win, one of four he has received, came in 1997 for his release, Senor Blues.

Another significant milestone came in 1999 when Mahal recorded with Malian kora master Toumani Daibaté, representing a musical tradition of 70 generations. With that album, his musical journey had come full circle, informing his own sense of his African ancestry and his role as an American storyteller.

Mahal said that Seattle is one of his favorite cities and that he’s been playing here since the late 1960’s. For the last two decades, part of his Thanksgiving tradition has been to play an extended run at Jazz Alley, with a couple of days off to celebrate the holiday with his band and their families and friends.

Mahal received an Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted into the Blues Music Hall of Fame.

Join the festivities with Taj Mahal and his musical family in this exclusive KNKX Studio Session.

Musicians:

• Taj Mahal - vocals, guitar, banjo, resonator guitar
• Bobby Ingano - lap steel guitar
• Tony Durham - steel drum
• Bill Rich - bass
• Robert Greenidge - drums

Songs:

1. Wild About My Lovin'
2. Slow Drag
3. Twilight in Hawaii