The Nifty Nevilles : Brothers’ Soaring San Diego Concert a Rollicking Success

It’s heartening to know that just months after the Milli Vanilli lip-syncing scandal showed us how low pop music has sunk, the Neville Brothers could make their first San Diego appearance as headliners of a real concert venue, having finally graduated from nightclubs.

Not only that, but the celebrated New Orleans rhythm-and-blues quartet’s concert Saturday night at the Spreckels Theatre was sold out. The place only seats a little over a thousand people, but hey, it’s a start.

Critics have long been raving about the Neville Brothers, and at last, it appears, the public is starting to listen. So maybe there is a light at the end of the gloomy pop-music tunnel. Maybe garbage isn’t the only thing that sells; maybe reports of the death of good, honest music are, in fact, greatly exaggerated.

The Neville Brothers, you see, are everything Milli Vanilli and all those other synthetic pop villains are not. The four siblings--Cyril (percussion and vocals), Aaron (vocals), Charles (saxophone and vocals), and Arthur (keyboards and vocals)--are talented and accomplished musicians who sing, play, and write everything themselves.

They’re a true product of their environment. The Nevilles grew up in New Orleans and absorbed the potpourri of musical styles in the Crescent City--blues, rhythm-and-blues, Dixieland jazz, gospel, doo-wop, Afro-Caribbean, Mardi Gras.

And since 1977, when they first began playing together as a group, everything that went into their collective ears during those formative years has been coming out as a tantalizing, compelling hybrid. Backed by a trio of equally accomplished musicians--Willie Green on drums, Tony Hall on bass, and Eric Struthers on guitar--the Neville Brothers opened their 75-minute set with one of their older songs, the funky “Pocky Way,” followed by the mesmerizing “Voo Doo,” off their 1989 breakthrough album, “Yellow Moon.”

After another oldie, the eerie-yet-funky “Mojo,” the Nevilles slowed the pace a bit with the title track from “Yellow Moon,” which was highlighted by a stunning instrumental duel pitting Charles Neville’s piercing saxophone against Struthers’ sizzling guitar. First they challenged one another; then they locked horns and fought; ultimately, they embraced. It was a moment of pure magic, reminiscent of Eric Clapton and the late Duane Allman’s dueling guitars on “Layla.”

Charles gave his trusty sax another workout on the introduction to “Brother’s Keeper,” a spirited gospel tune that’s the title track from the Neville Brothers’ latest album. Cyril and Aaron Neville alternated on lead vocals, with Aaron taking top honors for his weepy, honey soprano.

Aaron sang alone on the next song, “Tell It Like It Is,” which was a big solo hit for him back in 1966. He may be built like an ox, but he sings like a canary, and there on stage, just as he did in the studio, years ago, he turned what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill doo-wop ballad into a soul-searing tear-jerker. He doesn’t just sing the words, he bites down on them, squeezing out as much passion and pain as he possibly can.

“Healing Chant” was exactly what its title suggests: A soothing, calming vocal chant around which Charles Neville’s saxophone wound like a cobra, rising up from a richly textured percussive basket.

“Junkman,” in turn, was a passionate, slow-burning soul song, sort of the like the Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone.”

The show ended with two more songs off “Brother’s Keeper,” the invigorating “Brother Jake” and the equally upbeat spiritual, “River Of Life.” By then, the crowd was on its feet, dancing and clapping, moving and grooving, in front of their seats, on their seats, in the aisles.

It came as no surprise, then, that the Neville Brothers were summoned back for the obligatory encore sooner than normal. And when they reappeared on stage, they certainly didn’t let the crowd down: “Tambourine” is both a tribute to the Mardi Gras and a celebration of it, a festive musical collage of all the sounds, coming out from all the bars on Bourbon Street, on Shrove Tuesday, the final day of the annual carnival.

That was supposed to be the end of it, but it wasn’t. Aaron Neville gave everyone goose bumps a second time with his breathtaking solo reading of the old gospel hymn, “Amazing Grace.” And then all four brothers harmonized on “One Love,” another spiritual, but with a definite reggae bent.

If there was any complaint, it was that the show was over too soon. The Neville Brothers are for real, and, sadly, these days, that’s not something you see a lot of.