The 2008 gifted us with an album created to celebrate the forty-year career of one of the greatest bluesmen of all time, undoubtedly the most open to contaminations.
TAJ MAHAL, born in 1942, somewhat pretentiously titles his album "Maestro", but no title could be more fitting for a work by a character who, since his career began back in 1968, has been able to open new doors to blues by contaminating it with rock, country, reggae, funk, and Caribbean music, foreshadowing future world music. Taj Mahal is a well-rounded musician, musicologist, and music scholar, always open to new adventures in the musical field and curious about collaborations with always different musicians.
This work indeed boasts numerous collaborations that make the album a sort of greatest hits of his career, yet built with new songs that explore a bit of all the musical genres encountered throughout his career.
So it happens that, alongside the blues with horns of the opening Scratch my back by James Moore played with the Phantom Blues Band, there are reggae episodes like Never let you go played with the Los Lobos in its entirety and the roots reggae of Black man, brown man sung together with the prodigal son Ziggy Marley.
The album is therefore varied and deviates from the blues label that might not accurately convey the essence of this work, while still remaining the common denominator of the songs. Especially the second part of the album places some rough and hefty blues like TV Mama again with Los Lobos or like the subsequent I Can make you happy featuring the New Orleans Social Club which also reappears in the splendid cover of Fats Domino Hello Josephine.
Particularly noteworthy is Zanzibar, a song written and sung with Angelique Kidjo that directly projects us into the fiery plains of the African continent with its primordial choruses.
I would also like to mention the presence of Ben Harper who performs with Taj Mahal a composition of his that veers towards funk: Dust me down.
12 songs for almost an hour of delightful musical journey discovering a musician never too praised and often forgotten but who has always worked underground without ever settling, constantly seeking new frontiers to explore. Rediscovering his old albums at this point is necessary and surely will be enjoyable. Thank you Maestro.
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