Taj Mahal - Maestro
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Taj MahalBrand: Maestro
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2008-09-30
Music Label: Heads Up
Free Music Notes for Maestro
Free Music Review: With excellent records like this - here's to the next 40 years!
Hit: 5 Stars
This album celebrates 40 years in the record business for Taj. I bought his first album, which I still play and enjoy, and this new one is a wonderful record that is full of variety - blues, reggae, world music, acoustic, electric and includes guests like Los Lobos, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. Apparently it's Taj's first release of new material for five years and he certainly sounds refreshed and raring to go.
We get off to a great start with Slim Harpo's "Scratch my back" done Stax style with the Phantom Blues Band, who also close the album in similar style with the Willie Dixon/Captain Beefheart song "Diddy Wah Diddy". Jack Johnson guests on Taj's own "Further on down the road" but doesn't really add a great deal, whereas Ben Harper and Ziggy Marley both hold their own on "Dust me down" and "Black man, brown man" respectively. Kora player Toumani Diabate and Angelique Kidjo guest on the exotic "Zanzibar" while "Slow drag" features Taj on banjo and sounds like an out take from one of his late 60s records. Los Lobos join Taj for a great, raw blues rendering of the Big Joe Turner/Elmore James classic "TV Mama". The New Orleans Social Club, including Ivan Neville and Henry Butler on keyboards, join Taj for a rocking version of Fats Domino's "Hello Josephine" (as featured on the Fats tribute CD "Goin' home") and on the slower blues "I can make you happy".
This record carries on from where his other recent records "Dancing the blues", "Phantom blues" and "Senor blues" left off but I think this is even better, with not just R&B updates but real blues and world music too. Taj I salute you, here's to the next 40 years.
Maestro Poster
The mythology of American blues is filled with images of the lone musician standing at the crossroads, caught in that gray area between light and shadow, cutting impossible deals with dark forces, offering up nothing less than his soul as collateral.Composer and multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal, a two-time GRAMMY® winner and one of the most influential American blues and roots artists of the past half-century, has made no Faustian deals in his long and distinguished career, but he stands at an important crossroads nonetheless. In his never-ending exploration of the complex origins and underpinnings of American music, he has forged a four-decade career by gathering and distilling countless musical traditions from a range of geographical and cultural sources: the Mississippi Delta, the Appalachian backwoods, the African continent, the Hawaiian islands, Europe, the Caribbean and so much more. Taj Mahal doesn't just stand at the crossroads. He is the crossroads.
This twelve-track set - his first U.S. release in five years - marks the fortieth anniversary of Taj's rich and varied recording career by mixing original material with chestnuts from vintage sources and newcomers alike. Guests on this anniversary gala include Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Angelique Kidjo, Los Lobos, Ziggy Marley and others - many of whom have been directly influenced by Taj's music and guidance.
Taj Mahal marks the 40th anniversary of his debut album with the release of Maestro. It's an all-star affair featuring guest appearances by Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Ziggy Marley's Band, Los Lobos, and quite a few others. How he continues to successfully blend so many different styles of music onto one album is certain proof of his pedigree as a musician. There are bold statements of reggae style in "Never Let You Go," and "Black Man, Brown Man." On the other hand, "Zanzibar" (featuring vocals from Angelique Kidjo, and kora from Toumani Diabate) is heavily flavored with the sound of contemporary African music. That stated, Maestro is a blues album at its foundation and Mahal does the blues on this set as convincingly as ever. From the brassy and soulful opener "Scratch My Back," to the gritty guitar on "Dust Me Down," to the slow, sexy, and grinding "Slow Drag," Maestro delivers on every level. The lyrics are clever and upbeat, the performances are liberated, and the album is thoroughly satisfying. ---Eric C.P. Martin
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