The muscles. The flutter. The gentleness.
They were all in abundance Friday night at the Dakota Jazz Club because Aaron Neville was in the house.
For nearly two hours, the pride of New Orleans serenaded a packed house in what felt like maybe the most splendid and intimate evening of non-singalong piano bar music you'd ever want to hear.
In other words, this wasn't Neville, 75, cruising through his catalog of hits. Rather, he took you on his journey (his word) of the music that mattered in his life.
That meant the set was heavy on one-man doo-wop covers (though he occasionally offered the bass-line bridges, in a playful way), rock and blues oldies, standards, and contemporary classics like "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Just the Way You Are" ("one of my favorite songs," Neville said). There were a few Nat King Cole numbers and a pair of Bob Dylan tunes and even some delightful goofs like John Sebastian's "Welcome Back" and the theme to the Mickey Mouse Club.
And Neville told it like it was, with little factoids about many of the selections or the stars who made them famous.
Accompanied by pianist Michael Goods and occasionally his own electric piano, Neville was friendly, spontaneous, humorous, informative and, above all, emotional. He seemed to be enjoying himself almost as much as the crowd enjoyed listening to him.
A distinctive stylist, he knows how to get inside a song, whether an unrequited love tune like Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (which ended with a yodel) or a political commentary like Dylan's "With God on Our Side" (which was delivered like an Irish reverie).
Early in the evening, Neville explained that he'd gone to the University of DooWopology. Essentially, what he was trying to do was connect the dots of his influences, whether it was Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill," the Drifters' "This Magic Moment," Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love" or Cole's "Mona Lisa."
Sometimes, Neville would offer just a verse and a chorus of a song, other times he'd do the entire piece or feature it in a medley. On the Dylan selections and a few other contemporary numbers, he turned to lyric sheets, which meant his back was turned to half the audience.
Neville's vocal approach was easy and soulful, with his use of halting phrasing, flutter and falsetto never feeling forced. He employed those devices to add nuance, not showmanship.
Goods was a simpatico accompanist, always providing the right New Orleans flavor to frame Neville's interpretation. Sometimes Neville would start the tune on electric piano -- if only to find the right vocal note or rhythm for Goods to follow – and quickly abandon the keyboard.
The 110-minute program was pretty much devoid of the songs that made Neville famous. There was no "Everybody Plays the Fool," or any of his hit Linda Ronstadt duets or anything from the Neville Brothers. It even seemed as if Neville wasn't going to play his biggest hit, "Tell It Like It Is."
He encored with the very New Orleans-y "Down by the Riverside," the standard "Goodnight Sweetheart" and the "M-I-C – see you real soon" bit from the Mickey Mouse Club. With his muscular arms in the air, he muttered: "Peace." And it seemed like it was over.
But the crowd coaxed him back for one more. "Tell It Like It Is," the hit that introduced his sweet, soulful, feathery flutter to the world. In mid-song, he announced "This song is 50 years old." And it sounded as glorious today as it did in 1966.
Neville will perform again at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Dakota. Opening is Mark Andrew, the soulful Twin Cities singer who has appeared on "The Voice" and "American Idol."
