Taj Mahal's Music Is A Genre All Its Own

Taj Mahal, the Pantages Theatre, 901 Broadway, tomorrow, 8 p.m. Tickets $16.50, $14.50 and $12.50. 628-0888. --------------------------------------------------------------- -- TACOMA Over more than 30 years, many have tried to identify just what kind of music Taj Mahal plays: Is it blues, folk, reggae, Caribbean, African or all of the above. In truth, what Taj plays is Taj.

"The only thing that matters is to give the music all of the personality you can get into it," he has said. "It's got to come from deep inside you to mean anything. If you try to sing the songs the way everybody else does you might be entertaining, but you're not really sharing your experiences.

"You have to sing your life if you expect your music to affect anyone."

Born in New York, his father a jazz arranger, his mother a gospel singer, Taj first began truly affecting people - fans and musicians alike - with his move to Los Angeles in 1965. He teamed up with slide player Ry Cooder, got a deal, broke up and then recorded with a band that included the late guitarist Jesse Ed Davis.

Taj brought real folk/blues to a city that at the time was incredibly psychedelicized. There was considerable cross-pollination. He eventually broke up that band and went back to solo performing, most notably at the legendary and now-defunct Ashgrove nightclub.

Taj is self-taught on more than a dozen instruments, but most notably the National Steel guitar, piano, harmonica and mandolin. At one time he toured with a four-man, all-tuba band. On another go-round he was joined by the Pointer Sisters. He's embraced African and Caribbean music, reggae, jazz and southern folk, both as a musician and a scholar.

But what always comes through no matter what the vehicle or instrument is the sound of Taj himself - his voice. Warm and worn and with as many tales to tell as a country road, he delivers both life's pain and pleasure, but always measured with the joy of being. There is a sparkle to everything he does, no matter how down-and-dirty. His open sense of humor permeates everything.

Although his profile has been low, Taj's career is at an all-time high. He has a new album, "Like Never Before," that's gotten a lot of positive notice and has been Grammy-nominated for the children's recording "Br'er Rabbit" (done with actor Danny Glover) and in the traditional blues category for "Mule Bone," a Broadway musical. He lives in Hawaii with his wife and 11 children - by different marriages - and turns down work. Life is good.

From the beginning of his career, Taj Mahal has always meant honest music told with a smile, a rogue's adventure to places one might not otherwise ever see or hear. Taj has always been the man you'd most want to take a "Cakewalk into Town" with, no matter what road he decides to take.

"There's blues to cry by and blues to jump with joy and blues to just sit around on the front porch with," he's said. "Why anyone would confine themselves to just one style I can't understand. It's like eating only one type of food every day. That's not life, that's a rut."