Keb’ Mo’ misses some ‘Peace’

In a dapper, 1940s-styled charcoal suit and fedora, Keb’ Mo’ didn’t look like Santa Claus on stage Thursday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. But he did bring a bountiful bag of North Pole blues and funk for a concert capping the facility’s eclectic preholiday series.

The veteran Compton-raised singer-guitarist, however, left what could have been his best gift back in the workshop.

Keb’ Mo’ (real name: Kevin Moore) almost entirely ignored his latest album, “Peace ... Back by Popular Demand.” Many of its songs would have been perfect choices for Thursday’s Christmas theme, but the only one he did was John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

That’s not to say he was doling out musical coal. Mo’ and his band (and guests including Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Robin McKelle and Ellis Hall) gave some terrific twists to familiar and obscure holiday fare, mixed with the bluesman’s own material. One highlight was a percolating “Little Drummer Boy” spotlighting Owen and Alma da Baducata, a Brazilian-style percussion quartet featuring Moore’s son, Kevin Moore II.

But, at the risk of sounding like a spoiled child sitting in a pile of freshly unwrapped toys, this special night could have been even better.