Jazz festival sounds its opening notes

Outside on the plaza at Power Plant Live on Thursday night, the Paetec Jazz Festival got off to a blah start. Kicking off the inaugural night of free concerts at the Market Street complex, the Repeatos, an eccentric sextet of long-haired, middle-age musicians from Europe, Canada and upstate New York, earnestly performed a curious musical mix of ambient acoustic folk sounds, blues and rambling poetry.

With coronet, accordion, violin and an array of percussive instruments, the band improvised the bizarre music -- hence the Repeatos inclusion in the jazz festival.

But all the noise -- primal wailing and cascading percussion buried the threadbare melodies -- didn't draw much of a crowd. Although the show started around happy hour as foot traffic to surrounding bars and restaurants started to increase, people mostly crossed the plaza and ignored the Repeatos.

After two more songs, the Repeatos' lead singer, a woman dressed in a rainbow skirt and with nutmeg-brown hair raining down her back, said, "Thank you for your enthusiastic response."

She was being sarcastic, of course, because hardly any patrons crossing the plaza stopped to listen, and thus there was minimal applause between songs.

Meanwhile, Paetec's free outdoor shows at Bond Street Wharf Landing drew a crowd of about 200. And the acts -- the neo-bop band Michael Thomas Quintet, the Latin jazz outfit Rumba Club and fusion jazz pianist Lafayette Gilchrist -- were much better.

Dapper in suits, the members of the Michael Thomas Quintet played a set of traditional jazz with each musician offering tight, energetic solos. They played about 10 songs in their roughly hourlong set, including "The Messenger," the title track on their first album.

Unfortunately, the Rumba Club's show was beset by rain, with the crowd scattering for shelter. But when Gilchrist hit the stage, the storm had settled and the crowd gathered again. The pianist slapped the keyboard, sending out flurries of notes that echoed off nearby brick buildings. His drummer hammered out hip-hop and rock beats and the electric bassist helped anchor the groove.

About halfway into his set, Gilchrist brought out local jazz saxophonist Carl Grubbs for a couple of songs. They did two Grubbs tunes: "Saturn" and "Joy." Grubbs' alto saxophone swirled and shrieked through the numbers, which were the highlight of the festival's Fells Point show.

Later at Paetec's first ticketed show at Pier Six Concert Pavilion, jazzy soul artist Jonathan Butler and smooth-jazz saxophonist Boney James drew a near-capacity crowd. (The venue holds about 4,800.) Butler, whose latest CD is the vibrant gospel offering Brand New Day, kicked off the show with a set that liberally blended muscular secular songs with fervent gospel tunes. Backed by an amiable five-piece band, the South African singer-musician opened with a buoyant, uptempo instrumental during which he showcased his warm, George Benson-influence style on the guitar. That number segued to his biggest hit, 1987's snappy "Lies."

Afterward, Butler morphed into spiritual leader. "There's an anointing on this place," he said. "I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Amen."

Then, the artist turned Bob Marley's classic "No Woman, No Cry" into a haunting, transcendental ballad. He and his background singers chanted the song's refrain, "ev'rthing's gonna be all right," as if it were an incantation.

This flowed nicely into another ballad, "Falling in Love With Jesus," before Butler ended with the punchy, exuberant title track from his latest album.

Mayor Sheila Dixon introduced Boney James, whose Grover Washington Jr.-influenced style boasts a heavy R&B edge.

He falls somewhere between Kenny G and Dave Koz, but James isn't as showy as the former or as melodramatic as the latter. The native New Yorker is definitely more soulful than either of his peers. And the house responded enthusiastically to his meaty, if interchangeable, midtempo grooves.

Dressed casually in dark jeans and his trademark fedora, James was backed by an enthusiastic quartet that added unobtrusive textures: shimmering keyboard lines, bright rock-inflected guitar licks, fat bass lines and shadowy background vocals. James' solos, frisky and focused, stuck close to the melody with very little improvisation.

One musical highlight of the show came during "Stone Groove" as James faced off with the drummer. The performance had a feel of spontaneity as the saxophonist's sinewy lines were answered and extended by the drummer's sharp beats, which folded in shades of funk, hip-hop and samba.

As the rain cooled off the evening, James and his band complemented the atmosphere with a breezy take on the Dramatics' 1972 classic ballad "In the Rain."

Midway into the simmering number, the musician told the house, "Every time we get to this song, I wish I had a voice like Barry White's."

James stepped away from the mike, laughing. "But I think I better stick to my saxophone," he said before blowing more pretty, silken notes.

Related topic galleries: Jazz Music, Fells Point, Barry White, Religious Leaders, Festive Event, Music Theater, Kenny G

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