TAJ MAHAL "Maestro" Heads Up MCCOY TYNER "Guitars" McCoy Tyner Music

TAJ MAHAL"Maestro"Heads UpMCCOY TYNER"Guitars"McCoy Tyner Music

ANY LINGERING notion that Taj Mahal is some kind of folklorist, primarily interested in preserving the blues in a historical capsule, is immediately dispelled by the lubricious horns that blast out the opening riff of Slim Harpo's "Scratch My Back" to kick off Mahal's new album, "Maestro." Mahal growls and groans his way through the lyrics as if he's more interested in seducing the woman being addressed than in bolstering anyone's archives. That's followed by "Never Let You Go," an original love song that combines Hawaiian ukulele, Chicano-rock rhythms and blues organ in ways that are historically inaccurate but sunnily romantic.

Mahal is backed by big names, including the Phantom Blues Band, led by alumni of Bonnie Raitt's band; Los Lobos; the New Orleans Social Club (featuring Ivan Neville, Henry Butler, Leo Nocentelli and George Porter Jr.); and Ziggy Marley's band. There are also guest vocals by Marley, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson and Angelique Kidjo, but it's the collaborations with the bands that make this record so pleasurable. Because these groups enjoy the cohesion and rapport of familiarity, they allow Mahal to relax in a way he never could with a pickup band. He sounds like he's at a party.

The liner notes to McCoy Tyner's new album, "Guitars," claims that the pianist "has never played with guitar players." That's not true (he recorded two albums with Grant Green, for starters), but Tyner's collaborations with guitarists have been rare, which is not surprising, given how hard it is for the two instruments to mesh. But on "Guitars," the all-star rhythm section of Tyner, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette have recorded separate tracks with Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, Derek Trucks and John Scofield. Banjoist Béla Fleck plays on a few others.

For all his powerhouse, two-fisted attack, Tyner proves remarkably sensitive and never gets in the guitarists' way. All five guests acquit themselves admirably, but the highlights come from Frisell's impressionistic, Miles Davis-like parts on Tyner's "Contemplation" and from Fleck's orchestral harmonizing on his own "Trade Winds." Those two tunes plus one apiece from the other three performers are showcased on the second disc, a DVD documentary of the rehearsal and taping for each number. The footage is rudimentary, but the DVD offers six versions of each taping: one for each player, a combined edit and a four-way split screen.

-- Geoffrey Himes

Appearing Sunday with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Christian McBride, Conrad Herwig and Afro Blue as part of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival at the Sylvan Theater, near the Washington Monument, 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW (202-232-3611,http://www.dejazzfest.org). Show starts at noon.