Taj Mahal

For more than 40 years, Taj Mahal with bandmates Bill Rich and Kester Smith have taken blues on a joyride through reggae, funk, jazz, Cajun, and more, leaving a trail of swinging hips and raised palms in their wake. In 2019, guitarist and lap steel virtuoso Bobby Ingano joined the group, and the trio became the Taj Mahal Quartet. The four match musical virtuosity with down home grit unlike anyone else: a blend of sophistication and humble familiarity that is equally at home on a shotgun-shack porch or a Carnegie Hall stage.

No matter where we come from, we are all part of the same circle. We all want to dance, to get out of our heads and tap into ourselves. When delivered by Taj Mahal, the blues can take us there.

Taj is a towering musical figure — a legend who transcended the blues not by leaving them behind, but by revealing their magnificent scope to the world. “The blues is bigger than most people think,” the three-time Grammy winner says. “You could hear Mozart play the blues. It might be more like a lament. It might be more melancholy. But I’m going to tell you: the blues is in there.”

No matter where we come from, we are all part of the same circle. We all want to dance, to get out of our heads, and tap into ourselves. When delivered by the Taj Mahal, the blues can take us there.