Last week, the Taj Mahal Trio performed two nights at City Winery, one of Manhattan’s most intimate venues, on Tuesday, August 28th and Wednesday, August 29th. Taj Mahal played an intimate set on both Tuesday and Wednesday among wine sipping music enthusiasts with his “Trio”. Taj, a multi-instrumental performer, provided vocals, guitar, and banjo and was accompanied by Kester Smith on drums, and Bill Rich on bass guitar.
The performance came on the heels of Taj’s appearance at LOCKN’ Festival last weekend. Onstage, he joined Toots & the Maytals to perform a handful of tunes including a Caribbean take on John Denver‘s classic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as well as Toots original “Monkey Man”. Off the stage, Taj Mahal, born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks, educated the event’s VIP guests on the exquisite art of roasting a pig. This extraordinary individual would know how to roast a pig, considering he arrived at LOCKN’ Festival a few days early to do precisely that.
On Wednesday night, Taj included a few of his well-known classics, opening with “Good Morning Miss Brown” before performing a sweet “Corrina” and bawdy versions of the blues standards like “Stagger Lee” and his own “Going up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue”. The trio also executed beautiful renditions of the romantically inclined tunes of “Lovin’ in my Baby’s Eyes”, “Queen Bee”, and “Satisfied N’ Tickled”. To end the evening, Taj Mahal and company encored an uplifting version of “Everybody is Somebody” from his 1986 album, Taj.
In his off-the-cuff style, Taj displayed his musical mastery casually as he told backstories and recounted humorous anecdotes between songs about growing up in New York City and coping with the summertime heat. The man redefines the word “cool”, and is the embodiment of musical history.
Watch crowd-shot videos of “Corrina” and “Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue” from Taj Mahal’s Wednesday, August 29th show at City Winery below via Otis Sinclair:
Taj Mahal – “Corrina”
Taj Mahal – “Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue”
You can witness Taj Mahal, the international treasure, throughout this fall as he continues his ongoing tour, which culminates with the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, sailing out of San Diego on October 28th. You can see a list of upcoming dates below. For more information, visit his website.
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