And Trey Hensley and Rob Ickes make six. 

The guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Hensley and his Dobro-playing partner Ickes joined Taj Mahal’s core band – bassist Bill Rich, drummer Kester Smith, and guitarist/Hawaiian lap steel player Bobby Ingano – to create the temporary Taj Mahal Sextet, which recorded Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa at Leon Russell’s former studio. 

With a rapturous audience in the house, the band shows off its diverse musical chops on the instrumentals “Waiting for My Papa to Come Home” and “Twilight in Hawaii” before peaking on a nine-minute rendition of “Mean Old World” on which Mahal, playing keys, trades solos over 12 bars with his itinerant bandmates. 

Hensley takes co-vocal duties reggae-infused “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes,” and the shuffling “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” but not because Mahal, 82, needs the help. It’s because Mahal is a generous bandleader who calls out solos and exudes joy in his performances. 

And though his voice is creakier than in years past, Mahal is no less potent when he lends his animated delivery to such staples as “Queen Bee,” “Betty and Dupree,” “Mailbox Blues” and “Corrina.”