Taj Mahal Previews New Live Album With ‘Queen Bee’ & Announces 2024 North American Tour Dates

Taj Mahal announced a new live album, Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa, arriving March 8 via Lightning Rod Records. The legendary musician previewed the record with a live take on his classic “Queen Bee.”

Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa features The Taj Mahal Sextet including Taj’s core quartet bassist Bill Rich, drummer Kester Smith and guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano, along with dobro player Rob Ickes and guitarist/vocalist Trey Hensley. The LP’s 10 tracks were captured at The Church, a Tulsa studio founded by Taj’s friend the late great Leon Russell.

Tulsa is the musical heart of Oklahoma and has a rich musical history, which Taj was introduced to by his friend James Brewer. “He was one of the coolest guys that we ever met,” he stated. “Dressed sharp all the time, played alto a little bit with those territory bands out there like Ernie Fields and Bennie Moten.”

Taj’s friend and collaborator Jesse Ed Davis later keyed him into some of the city’s famed players like J.J. Cale, Bobby Keys and Leon Russell. The latter purchased The Church in 1972 making it the homebase for his Shelter Records. Current owners Ivan Acosta and Teresa Knox recently renovated the space, dedicating it the legacy of the “Tulsa Sound” and providing it for rising musicians in the area.

Tulsa has a rich but also tragic historical significance to Black history and culture. A center of jazz and blues as a stop on the legendary Chitlin’ Circuit, Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood became known as Black Wall Street thanks to its thriving Black community and Black businesses. It was ruthlessly destroyed in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 where a white mob killed hundreds of residents and burned more than 1,250 homes, erasing years of Black success in the area.

Taj shared some sage words on Tusla and U.S. history along with what it means for us today:

“A lot of the people that caused that Massacre to happen were highly unevolved human beings. Unfortunately, this country didn’t start with the best of people, some of them didn’t have brains above their ankles and they did not know how to handle the success of people they viewed as relegated to the bottom of society. Fortunately there has been a tremendous amount of music and art, to come out of the state of Oklahoma and there’s a great diverse population that’s there. The people have tried to make their way and there’s been some progress that has been slow. Clearly and obviously, people have been working to evolve themselves past those kinds of ugly examples of what human beings can do, to and with, and against one another. Let’s hope that the lesson from that doesn’t fall on deaf ears, and that we continue to evolve.”

Taj has long been a proponent of evolution. His 1977 album is titled Evolution (The Most Recent), on which first appeared his classic “Queen Bee.”

“It’s a fun song,” Taj said. “It’s a positive song, from a male’s perspective, you know, to speak good about women. I feel like there’s an awful lot of angst between men and women these days, from whatever stripe or ethnic group or culture they’re coming from, there’s a lot of tension. You’ve only got so much string in this ball of yarn, and if you waste your time fighting with one another, you’re gonna look back one day and realize that, boy, did I waste a lot of time, I could have been feeling good, talking nice, being nice to people, so many things you could be doing.”

Watch The Taj Mahal Sextet Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa on “Queen Bee” below:

Taj Mahal is on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise Western Caribbean 2024 lineup and will kick off a winter tour in Santa Barbara on February 22. Among the stops on the trek are Los Angeles, the Phoenix area, Denver, Albany and Toronto. The tour wraps in Ottawa, Ontario on March 10 before Taj heads to Australia for the Byron Blues Fest.

Tickets are on sale now.

Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa Tracklist:

1. Betty And Dupree
2. Mailbox Blues
3. Queen Bee
4. Lovin’ In My Baby’s Eyes
5. Waiting For My Papa To Come Home
6. Slow Drag
7. Sitting On Top Of The World
8. Twilight In Hawaii
9. Corrina
10. Mean Old World