| Maestro is a look at 40 years of Taj Mahal's friends, | | | | and made famous by Otis Redding. Taj, at an early |
| family, influences, and danceable music. | | | | age, was a member of the opening band during an |
| Maestro: Scratch My Back, Never Let You Go, Dust | | | | Otis Redding concert and as Taj states regarding |
| Me Down, Further on Down the Road, Black Man, | | | | Otis, "his fiery stage performance grabbed me," and |
| Brown Man, Zanzibar, TV Mama, I Can Make You | | | | in his cover of Scratch My Back this influence is heard |
| Happy, Slow Drag, Hello Josephine, Strong Man Holler, | | | | through his commanding vocals with the assistance of |
| Diddy Wah Diddy | | | | the Phantom Blues Band. The journey continues from |
| Personnel: Taj Mahal: Vocals, Guitar, Ukulele, | | | | his time in Hawaii with Taj on Ukulele along with help |
| Harmonica, Banjo; Deva Mahal: Background Vocals; | | | | from family in the form of backing vocals from his |
| Phantom Blues Band: Larry Fulcher: Bass; Tony | | | | daughter Deva Mahal as they perform their |
| Braunagel: Drums; Johnny Lee Schell: Guitar; Mike | | | | co-written Never Let You Go, with friends from the |
| Finnigan: Keyboards; Joe Sublett: Tenor Saxophone; | | | | band Los Lobos. |
| Darrel Leonard: Trumpet; Los Lobos: David Hidalgo: | | | | Long time friend Ben Harper joins Taj as they |
| Guitar; Cesar Rosas: Guitar; Louie Perez: Jarana; | | | | scratch out Ben's song Dust Me Down with the |
| Conrad Lozano: Bass; Steve Berlin: Organ; Cougar | | | | support of a Who's Who of musicians (Jason Yates, |
| Estrada: Drums; Angela Wellman: Trombone; Ben | | | | Michael Jerome, Jason Mozersky, Jess Ingalls, C. C. |
| Harper: Vocals; Band: Jason Yates: Keyboards; Michael | | | | White, and Pebbles Phillips). Taj's Further on Down |
| Jerome: Drums, Percussion; Jesse Ingalls: Bass; C. C. | | | | the Road welcomes Jack Johnson on vocals to |
| White: Background Vocals; Pebbles Phillips; | | | | complement Taj on vocals, harmonica, and banjo |
| Background Vocals; Jack Johnson: Vocals; Ziggy | | | | along with the Phantom Blues Band. From the 1970's |
| Marley: Vocals; Rudy Costa: Alto Saxophone; Carlton | | | | comes Black Man, Brown Man written by Taj from |
| Sanat Davis: Drums; Michael Hyde: Keyboards; Tracy | | | | his Caribbean, African, Latin, and reggae influences |
| Hazzard: Backing Vocals; Takeshi Akimoto: Guitar; | | | | and he is accompanied by Ziggy Marley and his band. |
| Angel Roche: Percussion; Paul "Pablo" Stennett: Bass; | | | | Turning to another chapter of his life and music is the |
| Angelique Kidjo: Vocals; Toumani Diabate: Kora; Bill | | | | African track Zanzibar that Taj co-wrote with |
| Rich: Bass; Kester Smith: Drums, Percussion; Bassekou | | | | Angelique Kidjo and features Toumani Diabate playing |
| Kouyate: Ngoni; Debra Dobkin: Percussion; New | | | | the kora, a 21-string harp from West Africa. |
| Orleans Social Club: Ivan Neville: B3 Organ; George | | | | The spirited whiskey blues track TV Mama reunites |
| Porter: Bass; Leo Nocentelli: Guitar; Henry Butler: | | | | Taj with Los Lobos; the track I Can Make You |
| Piano; Raymond Weber: Drums; Mick Weaver: B3 | | | | Happy follows with Taj's gritty vocals belting out "I |
| Organ; Billy Branch: Harmonica | | | | can make you happy, I can make you sad," with the |
| Taj Mahal Maestro is a celebration of 40 Years of | | | | backing of the extraordinary New Orleans Social Club. |
| music and marks Taj's first U. S. release in five years | | | | The track Hello Josephine is a tribute to Fats Domino |
| and his debut release on the Heads Up label. Maestro | | | | and he is backed again by the New Orleans Social |
| brings together four decades of music, four decades | | | | Club. |
| of scouring the world and melding musical influences, | | | | The release includes a couple more Taj tracks, Slow |
| four decades of digging into the depths of melody | | | | Drag an Appalachian backwoods song with Taj on |
| and rhythm, and four decades of friendships, respect, | | | | banjo, and Strong Man Holler with Taj's deep soulful |
| and collaboration. Staying true to his belief that music | | | | blues vocals. Maestro saves the best for last with |
| should be danceable, Maestro will definitely have you | | | | the cover of Diddy Wah Diddy as Taj's vocals and |
| rolling up the rug. | | | | harmonica along with the Phantom Blues Band are on |
| Maestro is like a twelve act play telling the story of | | | | fire with this roadhouse track, and true to his belief, |
| Taj's 40-year musical journey. The lead track is the | | | | you will be dancing. |
| cover of Scratch My Back, written by James Moore | | | | |