Nicole Henry performing at Jazz in Motown, presented by the Sunshine Jazz Organization at the Black Archives History Lyric Theater, Miami, Friday.

The heading Jazz in Motown for the concert of Sunshine Jazz Organization at the Black Archives – Historic Lyric Theater in Miami, Friday (part of its First Fridays Live at the Lyric series) suggested a jazz reimagining of some of the label’s classics, and that was intriguing enough.

It turned out to be a lot more than that.

Jazz in Motown was a celebration of Great American Black Music. It was Motown and jazz, yes, but also blues and gospel, all performed with a skill and passion that didn’t require special effects, dancers, or any other distractions. Featuring several vocalists and instrumental soloists, a solid band, four backup singers, and hosted by emcee and vocalist Ja’Nia Harden, Jazz in Motown evoked, at times, a classic old-time revue — with a home-cooking feel.

Highlights include LeNard Rutledge slyly revisiting Marvin Gaye’s invitation to “Let’s Get It On,” Lissa Donald giving Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” a powerful gospel feel, Shamara Knowles’ high energy version of “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and Nicole Henry bringing her trademark blend of elegance and power to a reading of “Ain’t That Peculiar.” The instrumentalists deservedly also had their say, most notably guitarist Mojo Ike Woods, who unleashed a scorching version of Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man,” trombonist Waldron Dunkley, a busy soloist who doubled on vocals on “Do I Do,” and tenor saxophonist John Harden II, who by his sound and measured eloquence in “Another Star” seemed to be conjuring memories of the great Stanley Turrentine.

The program, the artists, the setting, and the audience made Jazz in Motown a worthy celebration of an extraordinary musical legacy — well beyond the label and the hits.

The Philip Glass Ensemble at Town Hall, performing Music in Twelve Parts. From left to right, Michael Riesman, music director, and conductor; Andrew Sterman, flute, piccolo, saxophone; Sam Sadigursky, flute, soprano sax; Peter Hess, saxophones; Mick Rossi, keyboard and Lisa Bielawa, voice, keyboards.

New York City. Philip Glass premiered “Music in Twelve Parts” at Town Hall in New York City in 1974. It was not just at a different cultural time but in a different country. If it’s hard to imagine what that audience must have made of a four-hour avant-garde piece with no story built on repeated patterns and subtly shifting rhythmic figures, consider The Philip Glass Ensemble’s 50^th-anniversary performance at Town Hall on Saturday. The patterns of minimalism might be part of our musical vocabulary now, but the challenges “Music in Twelve Parts” poses to our ways of listening might have become tougher — and perhaps more necessary.   

I had been listening to the recording of a live performance by the Ensemble in Rovereto, Italy, in 2006, which featured several of the players in the current group and the composer on keyboards, and then I had the fortune to interview multi-instrumentalist, educator, and Ensemble’s manager Andrew Sterman for my program notes (below). It seemed like a fair preparation.

As it turned out, it was like trying to learn how to swim from a book.

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Mali singer Oumou Sangaré performing at the Afro Roots Fest concert in the Miami Beach Bandshell on Saturday. Photo by Fernando Gonzalez ©

Most likely, few in the audience understood any words Malian singer Oumou Sangaré sang at the Afro Roots Fest concert at the Miami Beach Bandshell on Saturday. It never mattered. She is a transcendent artist, a preacher, a storyteller, a soul diva who commands the stage with a mix of emotional power and regal elegance, and that voice, a one-of-a-kind instrument that, under her expressive control, cuts through questions of language and traditions and speaks directly to our humanity.

Backed by a tight and powerful seven-piece band comprising guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, kamale ngoni (African harp), and two backup singers, Sangaré essentially presented her most recent release, Timbuktu. She set the tone with the elegiac title track and “Wassoulu Don,” performed (as on the record) with a stern, muscular rock urgency before showing her vocal range in the delicate “Degui Nkelena.”

On a couple of pauses between songs, Sangaré addressed the audience briefly in French and English but didn’t attempt to explain the lyrics. As must happen often when performing in places that don’t speak her language, because she couldn´t count on the meaning of the words to tell the story to this audience, Sangaré became another instrumentalist, the de facto main soloist in her band. She is an expressive and experienced performer who moves about the stage with purpose, smartly pacing her singing, communicating meaning and intention through phrasing, tone, dynamics, and nuance, now painting in primary colors, forceful as if calling to battle, now offering a light touch, a caress perhaps, evoking a loved person or place.

It was a delightful ride in which you held your breath in awe one moment and soon later found yourself singing, dancing, and clapping along. By the end of the evening, we had been somewhere—the power of music by an exceptional performer.