| Happy Just to Be Like I Am | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1971 [1] | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 42:36 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Taj Mahal, David Rubinson | |||
| Taj Mahal chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B+ [2] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
| Rolling Stone | [4] |
Happy Just to Be Like I Am is the fourth studio album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. [1]
Christgau's Record Guide said in their review: "this relaxed, witty survey of musical Afro-America is strongest when its compositions verge on interpretations". [2] Disc and Music Echo called it a "fine album, it's funky and it's gutsy, and there's splended brass on it". [5] Rolling Stone Magazine said it is a "loose riotous blues 'n roots album", and that Taj Mahal is "nearly alone carrying the torch of the country music blues for other young black musicians to hear". [5]
Eric Zoeckler wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it is the "unconventional mixture of instruments, Taj's six-holed fife, a section of four tubas, gung-ko-gwees, flugelhorns and steel bodied guitars, that makes this recording the delight that it is". [6]
All tracks composed by Taj Mahal; except where indicated
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.
Kevin Roosevelt Moore, known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and eight-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link to the seminal Delta blues that travelled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America." His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. The moniker "Keb Mo" was coined by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, and picked up by his record label as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name.
Takin' My Time is the third studio album by American musician Bonnie Raitt. It was released in 1973 by Warner Bros. Records. The album is an amalgamation of several different genres, including blues, folk, jazz, New Orleans rhythm and blues, and calypso. The 10 tracks on the album are covers, ranging from soft sentimental ballads to upbeat, rhythmic-heavy tracks. Lowell George was originally hired to handle the production, but was ultimately replaced by John Hall when Raitt became unhappy with his production.
Jesse Edwin Davis III was a Native American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist and solo performer, was a member of Taj Mahal's backing band and played with musicians such as Eric Clapton, John Lennon, and George Harrison. In 2018, he was posthumously inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame at the 18th Annual Native American Music Awards. Davis was an enrolled citizen of the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma with Comanche, Muscogee, and Seminole ancestry.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, initially released in February 1972.
The Real Thing is a double live album by Taj Mahal, released in 1971. It was recorded on February 13, 1971, at the Fillmore East in New York City and features Taj Mahal backed by a band that includes four tuba players.
Taj Mahal is the debut album by American guitarist and vocalist Taj Mahal. Recorded in 1967, it contains blues songs by Sleepy John Estes, Robert Johnson, and Sonny Boy Williamson II reworked in contemporary blues- and folk-rock styles. Also included is Taj Mahal's adaptation of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues", which inspired the popular Allman Brothers Band recording.
L.A. Midnight is the twentieth studio electric blues album by B.B. King released in 1972. It features two extended guitar jams with fellow guitarists Jesse Ed Davis and Joe Walsh. It also features Taj Mahal on harmonica and guitar.. "Can't You Hear Me Talking To You" also features Davis on guitar.
Satisfied 'n Tickled Too is the ninth studio album by Taj Mahal, and was released in 1976 on the Columbia Records label.
Recycling the Blues & Other Related Stuff is the fifth American blues studio album by Taj Mahal. Tracks 1-7 were recorded live; tracks 8-11 are studio recordings. The album cover shows a photograph of Taj Majal and Mississippi John Hurt taken by David Gahr backstage at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1964.
Oooh So Good 'n Blues is the sixth studio American blues album by Taj Mahal.
Mo' Roots is the seventh studio album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. The musician turned away from his normal fare to record a reggae inspired collection.
Music Keeps Me Together is the eighth studio album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. The album was remixed at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia by Jay Mark and Carl Paruolo.
Music Fuh Ya' (Musica Para Tu) is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, which was released in 1977.
Brothers is an album by American blues singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Taj Mahal. It was recorded in August 1976 at Conway Recorders Co. in Hollywood and released the following year by Warner Bros. Records. It is the soundtrack to the 1977 film Brothers, with songs that music critic Richie Unterberger described as being "in the mode that Mahal was usually immersed in during the mid-1970s: bluesy, low-key tunes with a lot of Caribbean influence, particularly in the steel drums."
Evolution (The Most Recent) is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, which was released in 1977.
In Progress & In Motion: 1965-1998 is a compilation album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, which was released in 1998.
Shoutin' in Key is a live album by American blues artist Taj Mahal.
The Essential Taj Mahal is a "best of" album by American blues artist Taj Mahal. AllMusic stated that "The Essential Taj Mahal pulls together the bluesman's Columbia, Warner, Gramavision Private Music, and Hannibal labels' recordings, making it the first truly cross-licensed compilation of his work.
Dot Com Blues is a 2001 album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith. The album was Smith's first recording for five years, and features guest appearances by B.B. King and Etta James.
