The vibe couldn’t have been much better: A warm, intimate venue with beautiful sound providing a backdrop for one-half of one of the most popular duos in ’70s popular music. Jim Messina is no ordinary artist, he’s a true innovator. And when it’s all said and done…a hell of a guitar picker and singer.

Sure, there’s the legacy aspect: producer, engineer, charter member of Buffalo Springfield, a founding father of Poco, and of course, the “M” in Loggins and Messina. After the tent folded on that duo in the mid-’70s, Messina became a chameleon of sorts, preferring to venture out every now and then to test-drive his latest musical proclivities. The man is a giant when it comes to fusing genres (folk, rock, country, R&B and now, with his current band, jazz).

An artist knows when he’s truly loved when he opens with acoustic guitar and requests the audience to sing-along with gems like “Watching the River Run,” “House on Pooh Corner” and “Danny’s Song.” And it does…enthusiastically. In succession, the hits just kept coming from every corner of Messina’s immense catalog:. “Thinking of You,” Poco’s “Follow Your Dreams” along with their initial classic, “You Better Think Twice” was just a smidgeon of what was ahead.

After a brief intermission, Messina and Co. really got down to it; stretching-out (literally) on a trilogy of Loggins and Messina chart-busters, “Lovin Me,” “Make Your Woman Feel Wanted,” the beautiful “Peace of Mind,” and the jam-a-luscious, “Angry Eyes,” which offered some superlative interplay between Jim and his musical mates.

Throughout the evening he was brilliantly supported (vocally & instrumentally) by his backing band. Craig Thomas shone on saxophone(s), flute, and vocals; Gary Oleyar, outstanding on second guitar, violin and vocals; Michael Brady, solid as a rock on bass and high harmonies, and laying it down phat and pretty, drummer, Dave Beyer. Whether surging forward or pulling the music back when needed, all had “big-ears.”

The finale, “You Need a Man,” followed by the proverbial “Your Mama Don’t Dance (and your Daddy Don’t Rock ‘n’ Roll”), was the perfect encore, and had everyone in the packed building well…dancing. In an era of tribute bands coming out of seemingly everywhere, we are truly fortunate to have a legend like Jim Messina still touring because, to quote Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell, “Ain’t Nothin’ Like the Real Thing Baby!” Nuff said.

—Bob Girouard