PORT TOWNSEND — It was the early 1960s when a teenage Henry Fredericks Jr. took on the name of one of the world’s most recognizable buildings. He chose this stage moniker as an homage to Mohandas Gandhi.
Today, the name Taj Mahal can either evoke the building or the man who has evolved into one of the natural wonders of the blues world.
The musical monument is coming to Port Townsend on Wednesday as the featured performer in Centrum’s 20th annual Acoustic Blues Festival.
Mahal, along with festival’s versatile artistic director Corey Harris, will give a 7:30 p.m. concert at McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden State Park, 200 Battery Way.
The festival also brings the “Blues in the Clubs” series to seven local venues next Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5-6, and culminates in the Down Home Country BluesFest with Otis Taylor, Nat Reese, Guy Davis and others at Fort Worden on Saturday, Aug. 6.
At press time, tickets were still available for Wednesday’s show, which also features Mahal’s trio with bassist Bill Rich and drummer Kester Smith.
While Centrum has received no indication of exactly what Mahal will play, he’s likely to offer highlights from more than four decades of recording music from every corner of the planet.
The artist’s first album in 1968 came at a time when records that are now classics were released on a weekly basis. Listeners could hear popular music evolving — but even then, Taj Mahal was something of an anomaly. The record featured hard-core blues in an electric setting that contrasted with the era’s psychedelic noodling.
He balanced frenzied electric performances with more traditional sounds, most notably releasing 1969’s “Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home” double album that contained one LP of each.
In the ensuing years, Mahal walked a simpler path.
For much of the early 1970s, he appeared as a solo acoustic act, opening for some of the most famous bands of the day.
Crowds of 10,000 would be primed for The Band, Dave Mason or some other loud and rowdy act and were greeted by one guy with an acoustic guitar. There would be catcalls at first. But Mahal’s fast picking and engaging personality won the people over.
Then there was the era-appropriate song with the lyric “Champagne don’t make me lazy, cocaine don’t make me crazy, ain’t nobody’s business but my own.”
While these performances gained him many new fans, pop stardom eluded Mahal — or maybe it was the other way around.
He has released more than 25 studio albums in various styles, from African to Hawaiian, along with live recordings and compilations.
And Mahal has always looked for collaborators. He’s worked with an array of luminaries, from Miles Davis to the Pointer Sisters to Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt.
Other collaborations with lesser-known artists — 1999’s “Kulanjan” with kora master Toumani Diabate and 2008’s “Maestro” — have won him still more devoted fans.
On the latter, he makes music with singers such as Jack Johnson and Ben Harper and the East Los Angeles-born band Los Lobos.
Nearly all of Mahal’s albums are available online through iTunes or eMusic.com, making it possible to access every aspect of his storied career — although it might be hard to know where to start.
For those looking for a musical biography, there is “In Progress & In Motion: 1965-1998,” Mahal’s career-spanning opus.
At 69, Mahal has slowed down a bit. But fans say his live shows can still shake the rafters.
And in this case, Port Townsend’s blues lovers are pretty excited that the mountain is coming to them.
For information and tickets, visit www.centrum.org or phone 800-746-1982.
