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Taj Mahal - Maestro
| Allmusic |
| The list of special guests who appear on Taj Mahal's Maestro is hardly what one would expect from a veteran bluesman. Among the special guests are Ziggy Marley, Los Lobos, Ben Harper, and African pop vocalist Angélique Kidjo -- not exactly a conventional blues lineup. But then, Mahal is hardly a conventional blues artist. He has been providing eclectic, far-reaching albums for a long time, and that spirit of adventure is alive and well on this 2008 release (which marks his 40th year as a recording artist -- Mahal provided his first album in 1968). No one expects Mahal's albums to be the work of a blues purist; in fact, Mahal (who plays guitar, harmonica, banjo, and ukulele on Maestro) is the opposite of a blues purist. While Maestro has its share of electric blues, the veteran singer also gets into everything from soul ("Further on Down the Road") and early R&B (Fats Domino's "Hello Josephine") to reggae ("Black Man, Brown Man," "Never Let You Go") and African pop ("Zanzibar"). The latter features Kidjo on lead vocals and Toumani Diabaté on the kora (a traditional African instrument), while Los Lobos appear on "Never Let You Go" and the humorous "TV Mama" (which is among the disc's straight-ahead blues offerings). Mahal, true to form, is all over the place stylistically on this 57-minute CD -- and yet, Maestro never sounds the least bit unfocused. Being eclectic comes naturally to Mahal, who sees to it that Maestro is a consistently engaging celebration of his 40th year as a recording artist....full text |
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| Blogs.couran |
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It has become standard procedure for older musicians seeking a younger audience to collaborate with the latter-day musicians they've influenced: B.B. King with Eric Clapton on "Riding With the King" in 2000, for instance, or Santana with everybody on "Supernatural" in 1999 and "Shaman" in 2002. Taj Mahal doesn't need the help, but the lure of young blood proves too strong for the veteran bluesman to resist on his latest, "Maestro" (Heads Up), his first domestic release in five years. Born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks and raised in Springfield, Taj Mahal, 66, has spent his career tinkering with the blues, adding a world-music edge with more traditional sounds from Africa and the Caribbean. "Maestro" mixes his musical interests, balancing horn-laced blues with a couple of reggae-tinged tunes thrown in to accommodate guests: Los Lobos backs him on "Never Let You Go," Jack Johnson sings on the lilting "Further on Down the Road" and Ziggy Marley and his band anchor the tolerance anthem "Black Man, Brown Man."...full text |
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| Guardian |
| Taj Mahal has been recording for 40 years now, and he's clearly in the mood to celebrate. His remarkable career has involving reviving, reworking and often repopularising roots music of almost any kind - from the blues to reggae or Hawaiian and African styles - and Maestro provides a reminder of his range and his many musical friends. Blues, in different shades, dominate the album, from the slinky Slow Drag, in which he shows off his banjo work in a reunion with the Phantom Blues Band, through to their brassy reworking of the Otis Redding favourite Scratch My Back. Elsewhere, he teams up with Ben Harper for a burst of blues-funk, with Ziggy Marley's band and Los Lobos for a couple of reggae pieces, and is joined by Angelique Kidjo and the kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate for a gently rousing new treatment of Zanzibar, a song that he first recorded, as an instrumental, with the Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar....full text |
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