Last summer, keyboardist Cyrus Chestnut (pictured) came to the area and gave a memorable performance as part of Cassandra Wilson‘s stellar band. On Saturday, he returned to the Kennedy Center‘s Family Theater as a bandleader for the second installment of Sanctified Swing, a program designed to connect contemporary jazz with its roots in the African American church. This program was strong in concept, but the staid Kennedy Center audience didn’t mesh well with the spiritual atmosphere the musicians were attempting to create. Fortunately, this disconnect did not prevent the musicians from delivering high quality performances that firmly tied together the jazz and gospel traditions.

The band’s sound draws clear comparisons with the hard bop tradition of the 1950s and ’60s, codified by the legendary Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers along with many of the Blue Note Records artists from that era. Though technical ability was welcome and often necessary, the emphasis in this style was on a swingin’ groove, melodic soloing, and compositions that drew from and celebrated the deepest roots of African American culture. When the complexities of be-bop took jazz listeners off the dance floor, hard bop showed that it was OK to be able to tap your foot to, and hum along with, a jazz record.