With an audience that snatched up all the tickets to his show four days in advance, jazz percussionist Brian Blade had a lot of expectations to live up to.

From the crowd’s excitement, it seemed the hype wasn’t for nothing.  In a little over an hour, Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band managed to captivate a full audience in Roussell Hall.

The March 5 concert kicked off the 40th Annual Loyola Jazz Ensemble Festival. It was presented as part of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation’s “Jazz Journeys” series, and was sponsored by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz and the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center.

Though the event was free, tickets were required for admittance. According to Jonathan Bloom, education coordinator at the Monk Institute, the tickets had all been distributed four days before that night.

The concert opened with the Tony Dagradi Sextet, who paid homage to the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis’s album “Kind of Blue” by performing the record in its entirety.

Blade A’90 then took the stage, accompanied by the four members of his Fellowship Band. Born in Shreveport, Blade moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola. Since then, he has performed with such artists as Bob Dylan, Seal and Wayne Shorter.

After a soft-spoken introduction to the crowd, he jumped into the first song and the audience bobbed their heads along with his music. The performance highlighted works from the Fellowship’s album “Season of Changes,” which was released last year.

Blade’s high-powered drumming was complemented by his band, which included Melvin Butler on tenor and soprano saxophone, Myron Walden on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Roland Guerin on bass and Jon Cowherd on piano. Cowherd A’90 also studied at Loyola.

The audience was filled with members from within and beyond the Loyola community. Among those in attendance were some of Blade’s mentors, including Ellis Marsalis, who Blade acknowledged in between songs.

The Fellowship engrossed the audience with a set that alternated between the subdued and the lively. At some points, Blade danced out of his seat as he played, and his animated facial expressions were palpable to many in the audience.

“It was amazing. I’ve already watched a bunch of videos of him and I was expecting a lot and I got a lot. The way he plays is very personal and emotional. Even in the silence when he wasn’t playing, I could feel an intensity,” said Martin Saito, a jazz student at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts.

The enthusiasm culminated in the band’s performance of “Let Your Life Shine Down On Me.”
According to a press release for the event, Blade wanted “the music to be a fellowship” and to express a sense of togetherness.

For jazz studies freshman Sam Shahin, who is a drummer himself, the event held special significance.

“I was absolutely speechless. I learned so much from this concert,” he said. “I can’t wait to apply what I saw to my own playing.”

Masako Hirsch can be reached at [email protected].