POP MUSIC REVIEW : A Night Playing the Blues for Tito Jackson and Uncle

After last year’s “Jackson Family Horrors”--uh, “ Honors “--who would expect much from a show headlined by any member of the Jackson clan not named Michael or Janet?

Not many people, apparently, judging from the paltry turnout Wednesday at the House of Blues for a show featuring Tito Jackson and the Jackson kids’ Uncle Luther. Even with the questionable hint of guest stars mentioned in ads and listings for the blues show, only a couple of hundred people were willing to chance a precious evening in this busy season.

Many of those who did show up seemed a bit surprised that it was, indeed, a straight blues concert, with Uncle Luther fronting his Phoenix-based band and Tito merely joining in as guitarist. It was “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “Got My Mojo Working,” not “I’ll Be There” or “Dancing Machine,” and a few restless fans soon started chanting “Tito . . . Tito.”

But then people began to look past whatever expectations they might have had coming in and got into the spirit of the music. Soon the dance floor filled with folks shaking to the spirited, although hardly distinctive, performance.

“The idea is to just come out and have some fun for a change,” said Tito, 41, in a pre-show interview, noting that anything the Jacksons do is usually surrounded by a circus atmosphere.

And on that level, the show was a success. Luther Jackson, who taught his famous nieces and nephews blues licks when they were young, sang and played with winning fervor, while Tito impressed with lead guitar work straight out of the B.B. King book.

It was nothing to make you forget the Jackson’s “Victory” tour. But it was a nice diversion that lived up to its modest good intentions.