POP MUSIC

Monday, February 13, 2006

Ginuwine

Washington native Ginuwine was the true headliner of the Ladies Night Out tour at the Show Place Arena on Friday night, even though R&B quartet Jagged Edge closed the show. Fliers advertising the concert gave him top billing, as did the venue's box office, which announced ticket sales with a sign that read: "Ginuwine $51."

With a mix of the playfully explicit sex songs that made him famous and the more mature themes of 2005's "Back II Da Basics," the self-proclaimed "Pride of Washington D.C." stole the spotlight from every crooner on the lineup -- not only JE, but also singers Case and Donnell Jones.

Ginuwine joined a woman inside an enormous prop pair of denim pants for the smooth, seductive "In Those Jeans" from 2003's "The Senior," and danced around, insisting that he hasn't changed a bit from his days as Forestville High School student Elgin Lumpkin during "Same Ol' G." But the artist was more focused on singing than footwork and sight gags while performing his new moaning-and-groaning-dependent ballad "When We Make Love," and his most popular slow jam to date, the wedding favorite "Differences."

Fans rushed out of the arena in the middle of "Pony," the Timbaland-produced breakout hit from Ginuwine's 1996 debut, "The Bachelor," but only to get in line to have their pictures snapped with the star after he left the stage. But before Ginuwine could start posing with the public, Prince George's County Sheriff Michael Jackson surprised the artist with two proclamations at the end of his set, one of which declared the entire day a celebration of Ginuwine's life and work -- as if there were any doubt.

-- Sarah Godfrey

Fort Minor

It took only one song for Fort Minor's Mike Shinoda to ask the crowd at Nation on Friday to put their hands up and wave them from side to side. The rapper-songwriter, also a member of Linkin Park, later had a contest to see which side of the club's audience was louder and asked to see fans' lighters and cell phones during a ballad-rap. It was all so comforting.

But when Shinoda wasn't engaging in every hip-hop performance cliche in the book, he and his crew brought the noise. And what a crew it was: two violinists, a cellist, a drummer, three backup singers, singer Holly Brook, DJ Cheapshot and Styles of Beyond's rappers Ryu and Tak.

While the string section was little more than decoration, the rest of the group played off one another in an appealingly loose fashion. It was the last night of Fort Minor's first U.S. tour, and Shinoda, fresh from performing with Linkin Park, Jay-Z and Paul McCartney at the Grammy Awards, was ready to celebrate. He also was about to turn 29 the next day, so a birthday singalong and a big shot of Crown Royal helped.

Over the course of 15 songs, Fort Minor played hip-hop like a rock band, with a firm sense of dynamics and flow. Unlike so many rap performances, where microphones bleed from the manic vocal abuse heaped upon them, Shinoda, Ryu and Tak always sounded tight and audible.

Most of the tunes came from Fort Minor's debut, "The Rising Tied," including "Remember the Name," "Feels Like Home" and "Where'd You Go," which Shinoda dedicated to recently deceased hip-hop producer Jay Dee (aka J Dilla). But the band also performed Linkin Park's "In the End" and dipped into its "We Major" mix tape for "There They Go," "Bleach" and "Dolla," which is built on a massive Led Zeppelin riff from "The Ocean."

Before the last tune, "Petrified," Shinoda said, "This is either a complete train wreck or the best show of all time." It was neither, but it was a lot of fun.

-- Christopher Porter

Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra marked its 20th anniversary at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater on Friday night with help from guest violinist Regina Carter, who played a significant role in making the performance swinging and soulful.

The ensemble had an additional reason to celebrate: It opened the concert by abruptly segueing into an 87th-birthday salute to trumpeter and charter orchestra member Snooky Young. An alum of the Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie bands, Young went right back to work, producing blue-note smears with horn and mute, the moment the cheers faded.

Bassist John Clayton Jr., who co-founded the orchestra with his younger sibling, alto saxophonist Jeff Clayton, and drummer Jeff Hamilton, certainly got an aerobics workout while conducting the band. Horace Silver's "The Jody Grind" and Sonny Stitt's "The Eternal Triangle" were particularly stirring performances -- arrangements teeming with colorful reed and brass designs and rhythmic vitality. The horns, though, were also deployed with great finesse at times.

Bassist Clayton's tender bowed rendition of Johnny Mandel's "Emily" and drummer Hamilton's exceedingly graceful brush work helped sustain moods ranging from chamber jazz intimacy to soft-shoe swing. When Carter joined the orchestra, her singing tone and shaded phrasing produced some sublime moments. Yet she seemed particularly eager to swing with the horn section, going so far as to sit alongside the reedmen during the rousing, Milt Jackson-inspired "Reverence." She also skipped through a wonderfully lighthearted arrangement of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," and vigorously mined the blues while performing the seldom heard Duke Ellington-Billy Strayhorn gem "Imagine My Frustration."

-- Mike Joyce

Eric Reed

Certainly there are worse ways to spend a stormy evening than sitting indoors listening to vintage recordings by Art Tatum and the Andrews Sisters. Yet it's unlikely that those who attended pianist Eric Reed's centennial tribute to lyricist Harold Adamson at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club on Saturday night imagined they would be doing so.

Reed chose the recordings to illustrate different aspects of Adamson's vast and sunny legacy. But given the brevity of the concert, the decision seemed odd, to say the least.

A simple mention of the discs would have sufficed, allowing more time for Reed's quartet to explore Adamson's delightful collaborations with numerous composers, including Victor Young, Burton Lane and Teddy Wilson. (Co-author of "An Affair to Remember" and other pop perennials, Adamson died in 1980.)

Among the evening's highlights were performances of "Too Young to Go Steady" and "Where Are You?" both featuring saxophonist Stacy Dillard's expressive tenor, and "Little Things That Mean So Much," a splendid showcase for Reed's dazzling technique. When a buoyant pulse was called for -- and it often was -- bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Willie Jones III vibrantly responded.

Though an exceptionally gifted pianist, Reed is merely a capable vocalist. He wasn't entirely comfortable with Adamson's songs, but he didn't have much trouble conveying the composer's charm with the jumping "720 in the Books," the waltzing "It's a Most Unusual Day," and the unabashedly sentimental "You're a Sweetheart." Indeed, Reed's affection for Adamson's lyrics -- "adorable" is how he put it more than once -- was always evident and engaging.

-- Mike Joyce