Tuesday, July 17, 2007; C05

Marc Broussard

At the 9:30 club Sunday, the lights went down and a band took the stage, kicking into a funky instrumental as it waited for its leader.

Soon, a stagehand bounded to the mike, a young, baby-face guy in a white button-down and jeans who started doing his best karaoke.

Oh wait, that was Marc Broussard.

The 25-year-old wunderkind of blue-eyed soul didn't exactly throw off a lot of star power at the beginning of what would balloon into an indulgent 2 1/2 -hour spectacle. With the Louisiana native initially overwhelmed by his terrific band -- as well as his sultry guest star, roots-rocker Shannon McNally -- it was difficult to hear anything special about Broussard's raspy croon, which has been winning him fans since his 2002 debut, "Momentary Setback."

Plus, it was a night of covers: Not only did Broussard perform tracks from his latest album, "S.O.S.: Save Our Soul," which is dedicated to R&B classics, he also padded the set list with throwbacks such as "You Can Leave Your Hat On." When he and McNally dueted on "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," it seemed as if Broussard wouldn't next announce a song but the tossing of a bridal bouquet.

But the Bayou boy got steadily looser and louder, proving that he did know how to command the stage and lather a crowd as he slipped in originals such as the house-rattling "Rock Steady" and even bustin' out Morris Day's "The Bird" toward the show's raucous, exhausting end. It was like the best wedding reception ever.

-- Tricia Olszewski

The first Jamaica Day Outdoor Reggae Festival already has its second fest scheduled for July 13, 2008. But at times on Sunday, it seemed as if the event would barely survive its debut.

The family-friendly event was held at the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds, which is between Baltimore and the District, but not really close enough to either to attract the areas' sizable West Indian communities. Turnout for the festival was a fraction of what it could have been. On the vast expanse of green in front of the concert pavilion there was plenty of room to have a picnic, stretch your legs -- heck, play a game of tackle football, as some kids did.

Another problem was the day's length: doors opened at 11 a.m. and were scheduled to close at 11 p.m. The live music was slated to begin at 4 p.m., but it was 7:50 p.m. when "Reggae Idol" winner Kimberly Gregory finally took the stage. People were irritated by the late start, not to mention the heat and, later, the Heineken disappearing from concessions.

Plus, there were no lights onstage for much of the show; the sound cut out at times; the Positive Vibrations backing band didn't really know all the songs; and artist sets were cut painfully short to make the curfew that was suddenly 10 p.m., not 11.

Still, slowly, if unsurely, the event began groove -- simply because the music was so irresistible. Classic reggae artists Alton Ellis (resplendent in a full suit and hat) and Leroy Sibbles (from the Heptones) and venerable dancehall stars Admiral Bailey and Professor Nuts simply did what they do, with good humor and grace, considering the obstacles they had to overcome.

-- Christopher Porter

Organist Larry Hammerling and trumpeter D. Kyle Upton gave a promising closing concert Sunday in the 14th annual Grace Church Bach Festival. Hammerling teaches at Rochester College in Rochester, Mich., and Upton just finished his freshman year at Northwestern University. Disappointingly, the program included only two works by Bach.

The musicians opened with the composer's one-movement Concerto in D, BWV 972. Hammerling chose some clarion-sounding stops to match the trumpet's bright tone quality as Upton raced through the piece with absolutely clear articulation of every note, a keen sense of phrasing and a true feel for the music's overall direction. And Hammerling offered a powerful version of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548, outlining the fugue in all its chromatic intensity.

Unfortunately, the church's extremely dry acoustics blocked any chance to hear the resonance essential in performing Bach's baroque style. Also, the steamy weather did the organ no favor; several ranks (pipes) were out of tune and the music had to compete with the church's distracting air-conditioning system going at full blast. But Upton exhibited his sheer virtuosity in the five-movement Sonata Prima for trumpet and organ (or harpsichord), otherwise an uninteresting morsel by the very minor 17th-century Italian composer G. B. Viviani.

The rest of the music proved similarly unchallenging. Although resounding with melancholy eastern European coloring, Alan Hovhaness's "Sanahin (Partita) for Organ," Op 69, proved interminable. His music is, in fact, seldom performed anymore, nor is the equally outdated music of Paul Hindemith, whose Sonata No. 1 was on Sunday's program. It unfolds with the composer's typically jutting melodic angularity and barren harmonies.

-- Cecelia Porter