There's no doubt about it: Gladys Knight's still got it. She delivered a high-energy set that had the near-capacity crowd at the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre on its feet several times Friday night. Backed by a solid six-piece band and four singers, Knight used a narrative about her past to weave the songs together. She sang almost all of her hits --- "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me," "I've Got To Use My Imagination," "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" --- squeezing every ounce of drama out of each of them.

She earned her first standing ovation in the middle of the set for "Neither One Of Us." Pop songs may seem trivial by definition, but a brilliant song like "Neither One Of Us," sung at the height of emotion, can cut deep. Almost everyone's been there at some point and, when a great performer takes you back, it can have an impact.

Knight also demonstrated excellent taste in covers, traveling from Motown to Philly to sing "If You Don't Know Me By Now" (Teddy Pendergrass) and "Love Don't Love Nobody" (The Spinners).

Knight did not hold back and, after a while, found a clever way to take a rest. She explained that her older brother, Merald "Bubba" Knight (a Pip!), had decided to show up. He came out and joked around for a while. Then he channeled Al Green and James Brown while Knight sat in with the back-up singers. Of course she saved the best for last. "Midnight Train To Georgia" is iconic at this point, a magnificent song delivered by a magnificent singer.

Something interesting happened before the show when the usual dignitaries were being thanked. Maggie Brooks got her chance to audition (with dance moves) for the Pips; that wasn't it. The real story was the welcome the crowd gave Mayor Bob Duffy: a big round of applause and cheers --- far more than in past years. I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's (almost) gone.

Earlier in the evening I'd been at Montage Grille, where trumpeter Jeremy Pelt led his "Men Of Honor" quintet in an old-school, hard-bop set. You could almost imagine you were in a New York club in the late 1950's. Whether he played trumpet, muted trumpet, or flugelhorn, Pelt was in top form. Tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen and pianist Danny Grissett also took excellent solos. The hard-driving tunes were all strong, but the group was also effective when it slowed down for a beautiful reading of the ballad, "Where Are You?"

At the Lutheran Church where the Oberg/Petrescu Quartet was scheduled to play, guitarist Andreas Oberg didn't make it. Visa problems. But Christian Howes filled in nicely on violin.

I knew Marian Petrescu was a great pianist but I still wasn't prepared for his astounding solo on "Indiana." I felt like I was watching Art Tatum. His hands were moving so fast they looked like ribbons flowing at great speeds in a windstorm. And in his endlessly inventive solo, he didn't miss a note.

Then it was Howes' turn on violin. He began to play the prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1. After sampling the first "verse" he played some counterpoint, sampling that too. After he had three layers, he really got going, soloing freely on top of the whole mix.

Saturday night I'll be concentrating on the international side of the festival: Brass Jaw at Christ Church, Somi at Max at Eastman Place, Torben Waldorff at the Lutheran Church, and Billy's Band at Kilbourn Hall.