Born Henry Saint Claire Fredericks, Taj was raised in a musical household in Springfield, Massachusetts, and formed his first band, Taj Mahal & The Elektras, in 1961. For the next three years, Taj split his time between pursuing his education at the University of Massachusetts and cranking out R&B tunes on the Boston college and coffeehouse circuit. Upon graduation, he moved out to Los Angeles, where he formed the Rising Sons with guitarist Ry Cooder. Though the Rising Sons were hotly tipped to be the “next big thing,” their mixture of pop, rock, blues and country influences proved too radical for the mid-60s, and the band splintered after releasing only one single.

By 1968, Taj was back in action, this time leading a crack band that included Native American guitarist Jesse “Ed” Davis. His first three albums, Taj Mahal (1968), The Natch’l Blues (1969) and Giant Step/De Ole Folks At Home (1969), firmly established Taj as the premier cosmic bluesman of the rock generation; Taj and band were even invited to England to appear as part of the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus. Over the next three decades, Taj has released thirty-four more albums, including the soundtracks to the films Sounder and Sounder II, and the Grammy-nominated score for the Broadway stage production of Mule Bone, based on a play by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. He’s also recorded or performed with an endless list of luminaries, including B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton.

-- Dan Epstein

Dan Epstein is a Los Angeles-based journalist and pop-culture historian whose work has appeared in L.A. Weekly, BAM, Raygun, Guitar World and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. His first book, Twentieth Century Pop Culture, was published in 1999 by Carlton Books.