Cavalcade for May 31
Taj Mahal (photo courtesy of Thirty Tigers, PR)
"Cavalcade" welcomes iconic blues-folk master Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band at 4 p.m. today for music and conversation in Studio A.
Their new album is Time, and it is both a precious commodity for the statesman musician, and it's the story of this record finally making it out. It took time, but after 15 years, the previously unknown Bill Withers-penned title track is a new benchmark for the band.
Taj reminisces about his big break on "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" TV show in 1968, and about playing at the Whisky a Go Go shortly before, with more rock royalty present — no pressure. These days, the pressures of a collapsed record industry and fragmented market weigh more on him, but he prevails with a fine — if long overdue — release.
Taj and the band — guitarist Johnny Lee Schell, bassist Larry Fulcher, tenor saxophonist Joe Sublett, trumpeter Les Lovitt, keyboardist Jim Pugh and percussionist Tony Durham — perform a couple of classics in Studio A: "C.C. Rider" and "Cakewalk into Town."
Also on "Cavalcade," I note the passing of "saxophone colossus" Sonny Rollins who, at age 95, was the last surviving member of Art Kane's "Great Day In Harlem" photo of jazz legends posing by a brownstone. Rollins is iconic in jazz as it moved from swing and bop to the post-everything era, with Sonny taking it all in stride.
I'll give a taste of his unique voicing, along with two rare forays into the pop world, accompanying Leonard Cohen live, and The Rolling Stones (on a few tracks on Tattoo You).
[Recorded: 4/30/26; Engineered by Jeremy Rainer, produced by Paul Cavalconte.]
That's "Cavalcade," Sundays 4-7 p.m., on 90.7FM, streaming online, and in the Archives after broadcast.
