Hanapepe Dream

Though he earned earliest acclaim as a blues traditionalist, Taj Mahal is no purist. Instead, he's an eclectic artist who finds common spirit with the blues in a multicultural array of styles. This album's acoustic arrangements lace the ukuleles, slack and steel guitars of Hawaii (where Taj lived for 15 years) with the airier strains of flute and saxophone and the lilt of the African kalimba. Within this follow-up to 1998's Sacred Island, the music island-hops from the Pacific to the Caribbean, as a blend of reggae and calypso influences highlight "Great Big Boat," "King Edward's Throne," and "African Herbsman." Taj and his Hula Blues band additionally apply their transformational power to a sinuously propulsive rendition of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," as well as providing syncopated renewal for traditionals "Black Jack Davy" and "Stagger Lee" plus Mississippi John Hurt's "My Creole Bell." Straying furthest from bedrock blues, the lovely Hawaiian balladry of "Moonlight Lady" shimmers like moonbeams dancing across the ocean ripples. --Don McLeese