Taj Mahal: Maestro

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Eric R. Danton wrote in his Hartford Courant blog Sound Check: "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. … Taj shines brightest on brassy blues tunes like 'Scratch My Back,' where he growls out the lyrics in his gruff, throaty voice over a lean guitar part that swings like a pendulum. He sings with enough ferocity on 'Dust Me Down' that guest Ben Harper, who wrote the tune, has trouble keeping up. Taj nods at Elmore James with a blustery, raw slide guitar lick on 'TV Mama,' and he switches to banjo for the hazy country-blues tune 'Slow Drag.' His interest in African music surfaces on 'Zanzibar,' which features Angelique Kidjo on vocals and Toumani Diabate on kora — a cross between a harp and a lute. The album is a refreshing reminder that, in the right hands, the blues is very much a living genre that need not be stuck in a formulaic 12-bar past."