Let’s look at the positive aspects of the performance first. Featuring trumpeter Lewis Barnes and tenor saxophonists Darryl Foster and Sabir Mateen, the horn section was second to none. Their blasts were controlled and fairly straight to the point. Only Sabir Mateen gave it his all in terms of sheer energy and determination to drive the screaming, screeching work forward. Another positive card was pianist Dave Burrell, who featured a ton of congenial, cross-pollinated key-strokes that rocked the place, though even he was more or less relegated to the background. Hamid Drake’s mastery needn’t really be elevated at this point. Most already recognize his percussive prowess on the jazz scene and that alone made him a star of the show. His amazingly cognizant playing melded well with Parker’s phat bass motifs.

To counter Baraka’s rants, I was fascinated by Leena Conquest’s vocal prowess. Soft and tender one minute, able to soar the skies the next. I only wish she had been featured more in a solo setting, as her haunting vocals are still etched in my brain. When she danced, she was June Tyson and Min Tanaka in one body. Her movements were fiercely sovereign, while incorporating musical elements of the group as a whole. The tunes stretched out forever it seemed (there were only five or six played in total that night). Neither “People Get Ready” nor “Freddie’s Dead” retained too many elements from Mayfield’s originals and that’s just the way great cover versions should be.

Mixed feeling emerged at the end of the night. It’s not that I think that Mayfield is turning in his grave for Parker had all the right intentions when planning this show and everything was done with due respect. It’s just the over-the-head preaching that smacked this listener in the face and took him for a political and social fool. Rule number one — never assume your audience is asinine — was sadly forgotten.