Blinded by diabetes, lacking the musical archives he lost in
the flood of 2005, and sitting in an office chair with his back turned to the
crowd, arranger and bandleader Wardell Quezergue nonetheless commanded the
newly renovated Alice Tully Hall through the sheer force and elegance of his
arrangements to a catalog of R&B hits and his stern but subtle command of a
tight nine-piece band. It didn’t hurt that, for this concert, produced by
Ponderosa Stomp Foundation in alliance with the Lincoln Center Festival, some
of the singers that made these songs famous were on hand: Jean Knight (“Mr. Big
Stuff”); Tammy Lynn (whose performance of “Mojo Hannah”); Robert Parker
(‘Barefootin’); and Dorothy Moore (“Misty Blue”).
Jon Pareles captured the scene well in his New York Times review. After the show, Quezergue made reference to a couple of gigs playing free outdoor concerts at Lincoln Center, and to the honor of this tribute night. “I guess I’ve graduated to indoors by now,” he said.