In New Orleans, traditions die hard, which may help explain why the music of that city holds a particular mystique in American culture. Somehow, African rhythmic patterns, Cajun melodic lines, nascent jazz motifs and other ancient musical elements still mix and flourish in the best of New Orleans' improvised music.
Those who doubt it probably weren't at the Ravinia Festival on Wednesday night, when one of New Orleans' premier musical families-the Neville Brothers-turned in a characteristically profound and hypnotic performance.
That this quartet of musicians (augmented by various backup players) came together in the first place, in the late '70s, owes to tradition, for New Orleans families have been banding together to make music literally for centuries. Even today, New Orleans clans with such famous names as Marsalis, Batiste, Payton and Barker have come to epitomize the New Orleans way of forming an ensemble.
Even so, few such units capture the flavor and mystery of New Orleans musical history as idiomatically as the Neville Brothers. Listen to Aaron Neville's chanted vocals, Cyril Neville's lyric conga playing, Art Neville's harmonically luscious keyboard work and Charles Neville's Cajun-steeped saxophone lines and you are hearing a kind of sonic summation of what New Orleans music is all about.
At the center of this exotic mix is Aaron Neville's one-of-a-kind singing. Generally high pitched, warm and sweet, his sung lines easily ride the thick instrumental backdrop that his brothers and their cohorts provide.
Nowhere was the blending between Aaron Neville's honeyed vocals and the ensemble's pulsing accompaniment more cohesive than in the biggest hit of his career, "Tell It Like It Is." Here, and elsewhere in this show, a simple melodic phrase formed the basis of a long and mesmerizing group improvisation. Unusual harmonies, exotic scales, atmospheric colors, languorous tempo-these were at the heart of the band's extended improvisations.
And though the evening's excessive amplification may have led some Highland Park residents to fear that this was merely some rock band that had mistakenly turned up in the plush confines of Ravinia, rest assured that the Nevilles are much more than that. The subtleties of their instrumental rhythms, the syncopations of their vocal lines, the insinuating nature of their melodies affirmed that these were not mere entertainers but musicians, a rare commodity in American pop.
The evening opened with an appearance by the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings. Previously known as the Mellow Fellows, the group has re-emerged in a new form since the death of Larry "Big Twist" Nolan in 1990.