SEATTLE, WASH — It's a tradition that goes back so far, even the man who started it isn't sure how it began.
"To tell you the truth I don't know. It just seems that all of a sudden at the end of the year, boom, here we are at Thanksgiving."
Legendary blues man Taj Mahal has been playing his Thanksgiving week gig at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley for more than two decades now. But he's loved Seattle even longer.
“67, 68 I was coming up to play here at the Eagles Auditorium,” Recalled Taj. "Seattle was someplace I always wanted to go. And it also had some indigenous lore about it, it's in a great place. And you got the San Juans and you got the Puget Sound. And then we started getting this show here and I guess mostly early days I came up here playing solo, and it was such a nice club."
In his one-week run, Taj and his band will do 13 shows. The only night they're not on stage is Thanksgiving, when they'll be in the kitchen.
"Most of the guys in the band are pretty good cooks. So it's a combination of everyone taking their different parts just like they would playing music on the stage. This guy does all the veggies, and that guy does all of this. I do the turkey and cranberry sauce and this that and the other thing."
Taj may be known for singing the blues, but he hopes the people who come see him leave feeling anything but blue.
"I really want them to get a sense of wellbeing. Personal wellbeing," said Taj. "No matter how crazy the skies are, how gray things are, how blue you may be. And I think it helps people a lot."
During a week we get together to give thanks, Taj Mahal is grateful for a city that's always made him feel like home.
"I really appreciate the people in Seattle and the greater Seattle area for really always providing me with a great reason to come up to the Northwest and play. And I'm going to keep on coming as long as you want to hear me."
Taj Mahal will be playing shows at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley Fri 11/17 - Sun 11/26
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