POP MUSIC

Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet

Only one thing was missing when the Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet performed at the Birchmere on Saturday night: female harmonies. Now that mandolinist Sharon Gilchrist and bassist Bryn Davies, who've recorded with the bluegrass group, have moved on to other musical pursuits, Rowan and Rice are touring with mandolinist Rickie Simpkins and bassist Mike Bub.

The quartet's lineup remains first-rate, with Simpkins and Bub providing smoothly integrated accompaniment and soulful vocal shadings. A veteran all-star himself, Simpkins was also a prominent soloist Saturday night, lacing a blend of traditional and mostly Rowan-penned tunes with evocative colors and dashing breaks.

The subtle interplay of Rowan's voice and Rice's guitar was particularly striking. Rice isn't merely an exceptionally fluid flatpicker, he's a remarkably inventive one, too. His jazz sensibilities were evident throughout the show, whether he was generating swing momentum or nimbly deploying melodic variations, harmonic substitutions and chordal inversions to complement the vocals and underscore the lyrics.

Small wonder Rowan sounded inspired. Though he briefly reminisced about his days touring with Bill Monroe aboard the "Bluegrass Breakdown" tour bus, which "lived up to its name," Rowan didn't pause for long during a set that featured several vocally challenging songs, including his epic "Land of the Navajo." His remarkable voice whirled like a shrill wind on "Dust Bowl Children," soulfully revived "The Walls of Time," a Monroe-Rowan classic, and fueled "Panama Red," one of the crowd's many requests, with sheer exuberance.

-- Mike Joyce

Terrell Stafford Quintet

Terrell Stafford, who grew up in Silver Spring, infused his homecoming performance at the Kennedy Center KC Jazz Club on Friday night with a mixture of bristling hard-bop spirit and soulful lyricism.

Stafford and saxophonist Tim Warfield kicked off the concert by forging a vibrant front line on "Nick Off the Mark," before taking turns creating shaded countermelodies and brash improvisations. The tune, composed by the trumpeter, was driven by his quintet's forceful rhythm section, particularly pianist Bruce Barth, who used hammered block chords to resounding effect, and drummer Dana Hall, who jacked up the tension with tumbling, roiling patterns. Then came the quintet's easy-swinging version of "Taking a Chance on Love," a sharp contrast cushioned by Hall's mallets, softly illuminated by Stafford, on fluegelhorn, and Warfield, on soprano sax, and elegantly punctuated by Barth and bassist Phil Palombi.

Intentionally or not, Stafford sometimes evoked the sound of late trumpet masters. Art Farmer, for example, came to mind when Stafford, playing fluegelhorn, was quietly paired with just Barth at the beginning of a spacious quartet arrangement of "Blame It on My Youth." Likewise, the funk-charged "Blues for J.T.," an original tune dedicated to Stafford's father and robustly animated by Hall's syncopated attack, recalled Lee Morgan's engaging way with a catchy soul-jazz theme.

In addition to providing a welcome showcase for Stafford's compositions, the concert included Barth's multifaceted piece "Pegasus." Its graceful, soaring theme bracketed an expansive arrangement, enlivened by both unfettered swing and dense chordal vamps.

-- Mike Joyce