If
you grew up in the early 1970s, you might be more familiar with the blues
legend Taj Mahal than you realized, thanks to his soundtrack for the hit film Sounder. Since then, the real deal
bluesman and his music have graced many films and soundtracks, including The Hot Spot and Once When We Were Colored. As he approaches his 75th
birthday, Taj Mahal racked up another screen credit in Wyland’s short
documentary, Blue Planet: Triptych,
which celebrated its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival with a
special post-screening concert by the Phantom Blues Band, fronted by Mr. Taj
Mahal himself.
Awkwardly,
the film itself, written, produced, directed, and featuring uni-named environmental
artist and activist Wyland, is pretty much a big nothing. We see Wyland mope
around the mucky aftermath of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and listen to his
platitudes, like “it will take all 7 billion of us to save this planet” (in
which case, we’re done for, since the 2.5 billion people of China and India, or
at least their governments, clearly aren’t on board). However, he tantalizes us
with scenes of the Phantom Blues Band recording the forty-eight environmentally
themed blues songs he wrote, in a New Orleans studio.
Technically,
the film is rather unremarkable, to put it diplomatically, but it is well worth
sitting through if you get to hear Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band play
afterwards. It is a heck of a band, including NOLA’s Jon Cleary on keyboard,
Willie K (“the Hawaiian Jimi Hendrix”) on guitar, and perennial jazz
poll-topper Steve Turre (known for his long tenure in the Saturday Night Live band) on trombone and shells.
Despite
some quickly resolved sound issues, “Dirty Oil” was an appropriate tune to kick
off the set. It certainly highlighted Wyland’s eco message, but more
importantly, it really brings out the Delta in Taj Mahal’s voice. “Going Back
to the Ocean” sure sounds a lot like another well-known Blues standard, but
there’s certainly a long “cut-and-paste” tradition in Blues, so who cares,
especially when the Phantom Blues Band digs into it. “My Home is Your Home” nicely
dialed it down for Nick-I Hernandez’s vocal turn and Cleary’s solo, both of
which were quite eloquent. Throughout the set, Cleary laid down some tasty
lines on a Roland trying to sound like a piano, while a chugging Hammond gave it
a firm bottom, all of which is just such a kind combination of sounds.
Arguably,
“Little Ocean Pearl” was the highlight of the set, featuring Taj Mahal on
harmonica, Willie K on uke, and Turre on the shells. It is indeed fitting Turre’s
shells had a feature spot, given the ocean theme. In this case, his solo was
especially melodic and rich in sonic color. “Queen Honey Bee” also sounds like
a hummable cross-over hit, with a lovely melody and “honeypot” lyrics that
definitely suggest “blues” connotations. There was actually a surprising degree
of textural and rhythmic variety in the set, with the pseudo-calypso “All Gone
Now” aptly summing up Wyland’s message at the end.
