Blue Turtles: 1985/86

Cross-pollinating music? Sting is it!

Police fans look elsewhere.

Superficial lip service is paid to familiar recordings like 'Every Breath You Take' but make no mistake, what Sting is proclaiming at Radio City Music Hall, during his week-long engagement through Monday, is the newer more spacious 'Blue Turtles' sound.

The handwriting was on the wall as the curtain rose on a nearly unrecognizable Police original titled 'Shadows in the Rain'. Gone is the pop-rock-reggae influence replaced by what might loosely be described as jazz-funk.

Evoking images of a sudden, unexpected summer storm complete with crashing cymbals,' clearly evident is the musical expertise of the jazz greats that constitute Sting's band Branford Marsalis on horns, Darryl Jones on bass, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards and Omar Hakim on drums, rounded out by back- up singers Dolette McDonald and Janice Pendarvis.

Whereas, these same musicians were employed 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles' album to supply background texture, on the live stage they tended to dominate, drowning out the subtleties of Sting's vocals, and by the end of two hours he was obviously straining to hit the high notes.

Dressed in a loose oversized gold shirt and white baggy pants, Sting's charisma remains intact. And despite, a fair share of hysterical screaming, the crowd appeared mellower than last year's reception at Atlantic City when he fronted The Police trio and the entire audience stood on top of their seats for more than two hours.

In his new role, Sting both sings and plays the guitar, but the instrument never dominates. Instead that honour goes to Kirkland's keyboards and Marsalis' saxophones.

While both musicians delivered some extended compelling solos, the crowd responded more enthusiastically to straight forward sounds as heard on the current videos 'If You Love Somebody' and 'Every Breath You Take' played in the more familiar older mode.

Picking the highpoint of the concert, it had to be his first encore when Sting, accompanied only by Jones, asked the audience what they wanted to hear, the choice 'Roxanne'. Backup singers McDonald and Pendarvis appear to be equally adapt at dancing as they are at singing, especially on an elongated medley of 'One World' and 'Love Is the Seventh Wave'.

However, their precision movements rendered a look of planned chorography rather than a joyful spontaneity the music hoped to create.

Sting was recently quoted as saying, "My interest is to break down the rigid barriers between music types. There has to be cross-pollination." It's appearing that Sting has accomplished that goal, at least temporarily.

(c) The News by Winnie Bonelli