Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band [extended]

• Remember to Breathe [Elektra, 1998]
• Kulanjan [Hannibal, 1999] A−
• Hanapepe Dream [Tone-Cool, 2003]
• Get on Board [Nonesuch, 2022] ★
• Room on the Porch [Sink and Stove, 2025] A
• Time [Resonatin'/Thirty Tigers, 2026] A

See Also:

• Rebekah
• Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate
• Big Bill Morganfield & Taj Mahal
• Taj Mahal & the Hula Blues
• Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder
• TajMo

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Rebekah: Remember to Breathe [Elektra, 1998]

Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate: Kulanjan [Hannibal, 1999]
No longer does Mahal talk a bigger African diaspora than he walks. He deserves his top billing, but every other musician on this piece of serendipity is a West African retrofitting a simple little studio in Athens GA. Like the guitar hotshot he'd have turned into Stateside, costar Diabate is a virtuoso and nothing more, and his Manding songs are mostly some kind of change. But when his kora echoes the happy-hollering "Ol' Georgie Buck" or the deep-Delta "Catfish Blues," those straightforward old blues take on a filigree Diabate's percussive confederates can go to work on. And when Mahal's piano strides beneath the balafon of a Diabate named Lasana, the rhythms canter so comically you wonder who said open sesame. A−

Taj Mahal & the Hula Blues: Hanapepe Dream [Tone-Cool, 2003]
"Livin' on Easy"

Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder: Get on Board [Nonesuch, 2022]
Ry's more than Taj's tribute to Folkways-validated Piedmont bluesmen Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, who the notes note were "not encoded, there was no secret race subtext to worry about" ("Hooray Hooray," "Deep Sea Diver") ★

TajMo: Room on the Porch [Sink and Stove, 2025]
Subscriber-only review. A

Time [Resonatin'/Thirty Tigers, 2026]
Subscriber-only review. A