On a night when the kora - the multi-stringed harp-like gourd, which occupies a seminal place in the iconography of African music - seemed to reign supreme, house rockin’ blues had the final say. On paper, the trio of Taj Mahal, Foday Musa Suso and Vieux Farka Toure appeared to be one of the unquestioned highlights of the SFJAZZ fall season.

On stage, the artists delivered as promised, with lots of memorable - and highly melodic - moments. First of all, let it be said: whoever booked this show gets it. The African root of blues and jazz has often been hinted at, if not always overtly referenced, yet the barriers between genres never seemed so fluid as on Saturday night at the Paramount. Listening to the three impresarios play, one couldn’t help thinking that the gate separating African music from its American progeny had been lifted.

Billed as a tribute to Ali Farka Toure, the night turned into a celebration of instrumental virtuosity and folkloric heritage. Farka’s Malian blues - a cultural ancestor of rock - was well-represented by his son Vieux, who opened the show with some shimmeringly supple guitar runs and blistering solos. VFT is an energetic player, but he’s not so much of a shredder as a builder. He can play fast, but he seems more comfortable with downtempo fare, adding layer upon layer of groove.

Suso sat in on kora with VFT’s band and it was perhaps in deference to his musical elder that Toure refrained from the Hendrix-like showboating he’s displayed during his solo performances. The Gambian kora master remained on stage for a solo set, which went on for about 45 minutes and consisted of something like three songs.

The beauty of the kora became apparent during Suso’s performance: Part acoustic guitar, part piano, in the hands of a guy like Suso, the stringed gourd resonates with an amazingly mellifluous and harmonic tone. If there’s one instrument which furthers the notion of “African classical music,” the kora is it. On his last song, Suso played two melodies simultaneously, making it seem as there was a duet onstage, not one sole musician.

Following an intermission, it was Taj Mahal time.

With a hulking yet gentle stage presence, Taj was in rare form. He sounded like he had ingested an elixir of “the real folk blues.” He opened up with straight-up roadhouse boogie, as if to say, y’all ain’t seen nothin’ yet. He kept it in houserockin’ mode for his next song, then announced, “what a momentous occasion!”

How bluesy was Taj? Here’s a sample lyric: “I used to get up early in the morning/ The rooster crowed for days.” Uh-huh. His 12-bar mastery was pronounced on “Annie Mae,” a classic uptempo blues number about a “big-leg grandma,” of which, Taj noted, there were many in the house. With a low-register inflection somewhere in-between Leadbelly and Jiminy Glick, there was no denying Taj’s authenticity ... or his showmanship. He made the entire audience scream during the blues standard, “Checkin’ Up on My Baby,” then said, somewhat cockily, “for those of you who think a 70-year-old man can’t rock, the question is, what did he have for breakfast.” He then answered his own question: apple pie.

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for: Vieux and Suso joined Taj onstage, for a kora, acoustic and electric guitar jam - aided by calabash player Ali,  which transcended sublime. Taj then recalled the first time he heard Farka Toure’s music: “Wow, that’s like the blues in Africa.” A few folks started leaving around that time, but boy did they miss out.

The meeting between Vieux, Taj and Foday should have been the show’s peak, but ol’ Taj had more aces up his sleeve. Namely, his well-worn workhorses, “Gone Fishin’ and “Corrina,” which brought the concert to a higher level.

How much did Taj rock? He sounded like what Led Zeppelin always wanted to be. For his third encore, he pulled out a banjo and rocked the house even more. It was a statement kind of performance from a man who’s made so many musical statements.

We probably tend to take him for granted a little bit, but on Saturday night, Taj got his due.