Taj Mahal Rekindles Magic With Phantom Blues Band on Unearthed Record ‘Lost’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

The octogenarian roots master and national treasure, Taj Mahal, is still going strong. He has a 22-date tour planned for the Spring and Summer, backed by his three-decade collaborators, The Phantom Blues Band (PBB). Surprisingly, they have a ‘new’ record to tour behind. Most of us thought this partnership reached its peak with the back-to-back Grammy wins for 1997’s Senor Blues and 2000’s Shoutin’ in Key.  Since then, The Phantom Blues Band has released their own records, but not with Taj, the most recent being 2020’s Still Cookin’. So, we have a resurrection of this partnership, apparently by unearthing the 2010 recording, unreleased until now, Time. Given that some of the music on the record was composed seventy or eighty years ago, as has been the case with the musicologist Taj Mahal, we could easily ascribe ‘timeless’ to this repertoire.

Though the original recording dates to 2010, the personnel of the Phantom Blues Band remain intact from that time except for the recent passing of keyboardist Mike Finnigan. Thus, the revised lineup has Jon Cleary on piano and Mick Weaver on Hammond organ, their parts obviously new. So, there is a ‘new’ aspect to the record, after all. And, unheard until now, it is new to our ears.  Aside from those two, The Phantom Blues band is Johnny Lee Schell (guitar), Larry Fulcher (bass), Tony Braunagel (drums), Joe Sublett (tenor sax), and Lester Lovitt (trumpet);  augmented at times by Darrell Leonard (trumpet) and Maxayn Lewis, Kudisan Kai, and Sir Harry Bowen on background vocals.

The title takes its name from a never-before-heard Bill Withers composition, originally recorded only as an unreleased demo and almost lost to history. Close friend and producer Steve Berkowitz, with the blessing of Bill and Marcia Withers, brought the song to Taj and the band, one of a few soul nuggets here, featuring a crisp lead guitar solo from Schell.  Taj and the PBB also tackle vintage soul with the horn-slathered Isaac Hayes/Alvertis Isbell and Otis Redding hit “Sweet Lorene.” Another highlight is the reggae rendering of “Talkin’ Blues,” featuring Ziggy Marley, who shares vocals with Taj.

The album opens with a rather newly composed tune by Gary Nicholson and Steve Berkowitz, “Life of Love,” an uplifting tune featuring three background vocalists on the choruses (“Celebrate, celebrate a life of love”) and a four-piece horn section. The theme and the vibe stay intact for the Public Domain “Wild About My Lovin’,” arranged by Taj with an island groove (not reggae but akin to it). It’s the only tune where Taj plays harmonica, and it features Schell on vocal harmonies.

Vintage R&B and early rock n’ roll imbue the hilarious “Crazy About A Jukebox” with the line “She loved the jukebox more than she loved me.” Cleary and trumpeter Lester Lovitt take keening solo turns. The more contemporary “You Put the Whammy On Me,” where Braunagel is one of the co-writers, is a slice of funky R&B. “Ask Me ‘Bout Nothin (But the Blues)’ was penned by Henry Edward Boozier and Don Robey for Bobby ‘Blue” Bland, who recorded the tune in 1969. Taj does justice to the aching soul ballad. “It’s Your Voodoo Working,” however, seems derivative, a takeoff on “I Got My Mojo Working.” The closer, “Rowdy Blues,’ is essentially an old-time piano blues written by Bob Jones, who wrote for Mississippi Fred McDowell and early career Taj, who breaks out his famed ukulele. At the same time, Cleary plays both mandolin and piano.

The album is best summed up by these lines from Ruthie Foster, who wrote the liners – “Taj Mahal’s fearless, open-hearted spirit still shadows the whole thing with that genre-hopping joy. He leads you down the road with a history lesson, and the Phantoms carry it with honor to the Griot.”

Heck, it doesn’t matter when the album was recorded. Taj continues to bring us his singular, unbridled joy whenever we listen to him.