With a cast of all-star musicians around him and a capacity crowd before him, Taj Mahal looked out at his fans and stated the obvious:
“This is off the charts.”
Indeed, it was a very special night for the legendary Berkeley-based blues musician, who was being honored by an numerous high-profile musicians in concert at The Masonic in San Francisco on Saturday (Feb. 21).
The role call featured a number of other Bay Area greats — including Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Joan Baez and Van Morrison — as well as many other notable artists who have been inspired by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal over the years. The latter category ranged from fellow blues belters like Otis Taylor to platinum-selling pop star Hozier, the “Take Me to Church” singer who ranks as a first-tier arena headliner at this point in his still-young career.
Dubbed “A Night to Honor Taj Mahal,” the 3 1/2 hour show also doubled as a benefit for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (sweetrelief.org), which provides services and financial assistance to musicians and others working in the music industry.
The show had its share of difficulties — all of which were pretty common to the all-star tribute concert format — including that it moved too slow, felt too long, seemed too disorganized and had too many breaks in the action. But, again, that’s what happens when you’re dealing with too many stars on the bill, not enough rehearsal time, and the need to do a ridiculous number of stage changeovers per hour.
Still, there were far more highlights than mediocre moments — and really only true faceplant, which, sadly, came at the very end of the show and provided a lasting memory for those walking out of the venue.
Oh, but that downer moment was still hours away as the night kicked off with a steady succession of artists — country musician Will Hoge, Bay Area blues belter Lady Bianca, blues great Otis Taylor with Cassie Taylor and Oakland’s own Alvin Youngblood Hart, etc.– taking short spins under the spotlight.
Most of the artists performed just one to two songs each, supported by a topnotch house band. The most notable exception to that rule was the man of the evening himself — Taj Mahal — who sat in with several artists as well as performed some music in a solo setting.
The first real highlight came relatively early in the night when Taj Mahal, who works reggae, jazz, gospel, calypso, Afro-Caribbean and Hawaiian sounds into his music, took the stage with Van Morrison for an old-timey rock ‘n’ roll/R&B set that included a screaming versions of Little Richard’s “Lucille” and the Big Joe Turner favorite “Shake, Rattle & Roll.” The two legends were absolutely cooking, to the point where Joan Baez just walked on stage and began dancing away to the music (drawing big cheers from the audience in the process).
It really felt too early in the evening to serve up such a big moment — especially since it made so much that followed feel pretty anticlimactic. Morrison wouldn’t be seen again — and was noticeably absent during the big all-star finale. Given what happened with that finale, however, perhaps that was a good thing.
Still, I do thing it was a big missed opportunity not to have “The Belfast Cowboy” meet up with the current hottest Irish singer on the planet — Hozier — for a little “Moondance.”
Taj Mahal was then joined onstage by yet another Bay Area legend — Maria Muldaur — for a sweet take on his love song “Baby, You’re My Destiny.”
“Are you ready?” Taj asked the folk/pop/blues vocalist.
“As ready as I will ever be” Maria answered.
Little Steven Van Zandt, of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band fame, was another highlight of the night, bringing the garage rock energy to Taj Mahal’s “Give Your Woman What She Wants.”
George Thorogood also brought the big-time energy to his two-song set, which consisted of the Willie Dixon-penned “Howlin’ for My Baby” (the definitive version of which, of course, was served by Howlin’ Wolf) and the country blues classic “Midnight Special.”
And the Dynamic Miss Faye Carrol, the sensational blues belter who hails from Pittsburg, definitely impressed with her soaring vocal work on the Percy Mayfield favorite “Please Send Me Someone to Love.”
Another big highlight came when Baez and Hozier joined forces to tell us about “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Hozier then stuck around and offered up his breakout hit “Take Me to Church” before teaming up with Taj Mahal for “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes.”
As expected, the show came to a close with a big all-star finale — or, as Baez put in, “the traditional cluster (expletive)” — as most of the evening’s performers joined the guest of honor onstage to sing a Grateful Dead song that, apparently, very few of them seemed to know the words to — or even liked.
The result was the possibly the worst version of “Ripple” ever performed. (And, yes, that includes the ones I used to play, poorly, on acoustic guitar back in my San Francisco State days).
It was horribly under rehearsed and disorganized — even by all-star concert finale standards — coming across like a karaoke party where nobody really wants to step up to the microphone. And, really, it probably would’ve been better if nobody did — since the end result was out of pitch, off tempo and borderline unprofessional.
Yet, that “Ripple,” as phenomenally bad as it was, will eventually fade — as they always do. And fans will be left with the bounty of good memories served up during this fine tribute to Taj Mahal.
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