Taj Mahal electrified the audience in Spaulding Auditorium Saturday night with a inspired blend of straight-ahead blues and soulful ballads.
Mahal, who is well known for his wide-ranging musical influences, performed original tunes, as well as blues standards infused with subtle West African, Caribbean, and zydeco flavorings.
Playing with confidence and charisma, Mahal had the thrilledaudience dancing in the aisles.
Mahal, performing solo throughout the concert, began at the piano pounding out loud, excited blues and stomping his feet as the audience warmed.Mahal flirted with danger with his slightly risque "Big-Legged Mama's are Back in Style," but his confident, energetic vocals had half of the crowd blushing and the other half laughing in spite of itself.
Mahal turned to his guitar with the same energy. After a few jokes and a parody of Hendrix, he broke into more powerful blues tunes and some soft ballads.
Mahal played with a rich finger-picking style, often loud and brilliant, but sometimes muted to underscore his deep, bluesy vocals. He played several exquisite instrumental pieces. One was a lilting ballad based, according to Mahal, on a thirteenth-century instrumental style from the Songhai empire. Another bluesy piece was a medely, "Freight Train/Railroad Bill", which he attributed to two of his greatest influences, guitarists Elizabeth Cotton and Etta James.
Mahal entertained with several of his own works as well."Crossing', a haunting ballad set to a Langston Hughes poem, was the first song from a score that he wrote for "Mule Bone", a play written by Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston during the Harlem Renaissance."Giant Steps", from Mahal's best-selling album of the same name, was tender and muted, but his intense, whispered vocals entranced the crowd.
