Taj Mahal – Maestro
After 40 Years, Taj Mahal is still keeping the creative juices flowing’ from his guitar & banjo with his Heads up debut “Maestro”. This project surfaces a great deal of blues written material along with some reggae tracks & modern roots music. With backup from guest singers & groups, Ben Harper, Ziggy Marley, The Phantom Blues Band, Ziggy Marley’s Band, Los Lobos, Jack Johnson & Angelique Kidjo, Taj comes with one of his most complete collections of music.
40 Years and to still sound as good as ever is an endearing testament to Mr. Mahal’s endless legacy to great blues & roots music!
Track Listing:
~ Scratch My Back
~ Never Let You Go
~ Dust Me Down
~ Further On Down The Road
~ Black Man, Brown Man
~ Zanzibar
~ TV Mama
~ I Can Make You Happy
~ Slow Drag
~ Hello Josephine
~ Strong Man Holler
~ Diddy Wah Diddy
Its been quite some time since I heard a track open with blaring horns, and it comes out swinging’ to the blues template in “Scratch My Back”, feat. The Phantom Blues Band. For a minute there, the sounds from Taj drifts you back to that ol’ down back home, Z.Z. Hill, Bobby Blue Bland kind of stuff! The real blues deal!; The Caribbean touch of “Never Let You Go” written by Deva Mahal & backed by legendary group Los Lobos highlights another perspective of Taj’s golden voice as it soothes the reggae productive track & allows the rhythm to make your body sway…and sway!; Ben Harper jumps in for the ride to contribute his vocals & song to Taj in “Dust Me Down”.
In “Black Man, Brown Man”, Ziggy Marley & his band joins Taj Mahal for a track with an inside theme to the cultural aspect of skin color as its played against each other by nationality. Right alongside a catchy, harmonious Caribbean/african beat. Check out the lyrics!; Contributing vocals by Ben Johnson in “Further Down The Road” & Angelique Kidjo for “Zanzibar” expands the disc into various places of wonderfully arranged compositions.
To show how multi-faceted Mr. Mahal is & how deep his musical background reaches, check out his Harmonica solo on track “TV Mama”, again with Los Lobos.
This project is recommended for the true down home blues man or woman, the Caribbean groovemeister, the reggae sidestepper & the authentic african-roots appreciating listener. Taj Mahal staged one of the best recordings of his career. An impressive array of selections sequenced perfectly in conjunction to the acceptable contributions from his guests & participating musicians. You will find with this CD, it can appeal to past & future generations, and relate with any spoken topic in our community. It rates up there on my list of Cd’s engineered with open ideas & solid improvisation.
Taj should consider another offering down the road.
You may listen or purchase MP3 of “Maestro” on our R&B Page!! Exclusively from Amazon!
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The Urban Music Scene