“We are going to elongate our intermission by another five minutes, thanks,” John E. Orduna proclaimed from the stage of Warner Concert Hall after an already long break in the Third Annual Black History Month Celebration last Sunday night. Organization was certainly not the strength of this program.

Fortunately, what the concert lacked in structure was more than made up for by the enthusiasm of the performers and the quality of the music. The Oberlin Conservatory Black Musicians Guild, particularly organizers Ivy Newman and Theodore Croker, created an empowering, entertaining and educational finale to Black History Month.

The program was broken up into two distinct parts. The first half was a hodge-podge of music by black composers, including spirituals, contemporary compositions and even hip-hop. After intermission, an orchestra made up of Black Musicians Guild members performed a tribute to Miles Davis, directed and arranged by Croker and Newman.

The whole first half had a relaxed, “open-mic” feel; performers set up for themselves and several spoke to the audience from the stage.

While the performances themselves were something of a mixed bag, all the performers shared an infectious enthusiasm for the event.

John E. Orduna provided the high point of the first half with his moving rendition of an arrangement of the spiritual, “Go Down, Moses.” His smooth, rich baritone and understated but intense presence brought cheers and a standing ovation from the audience.

Also touching was Courtney Bryan’s performance of a set of short pieces for piano by Conservatory professor Wendell Logan. Before taking her seat at the piano, Bryan explained that Logan had written the work, which was titled Rememberances of Childhood, for his seven or eight year old daughter while she was learning to play the piano. The pieces were simple but entertaining, incorporating jazz and other influences.

Darryle Johnson, with Jermaine Gardner on piano and Kassa Overall on drums, provided a welcome change of pace later in the segment with a short hip-hop set. While the acoustics of Warner made him at times difficult to understand, Johnson’s frustration at the appropriation of “black” music by white artists came through loud and clear; his “Tribute to a Legacy” of black music got the audience thinking as well as moving.

The remainder of the first half was generally enjoyable, although many of the selections felt random. Composition major Daryl Carr performed his work, Hollow for solo piano, to a tepid reaction from the audience. While the piece was quite effective and well-performed, it felt out of place on a program filled with crowd-pleasers. Jonathan R. Green sang an arrangement of “He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word” with an affect more appropriate to the operatic style he works in most of the time, although the power of his voice singing the poignant words of this spiritual was nonetheless quite moving. John M. Barrow closed the first half with Three Short Organ Works by Florence Beatrice Price, the first female black composer to win recognition in the United States. While the effort to honor this little-known composer was admirable, the works themselves were not especially noteworthy.

The second half was a completely different story. “A Miles Davis Tribute,” directed by Croker and Newman, paid well-deserved homage to the jazz legend with its intricate arrangements of some of his most recognizable tunes. Croker stood out as the undeniable star of this half; his sparklingly original trumpet solos and intensely personal sound carried the performance, invoking favorable comparison to Davis’ mastery.

The tribute used narration to string the various songs together following the chronological development of Davis’ musical style. The narration gave the program a slight middle school assembly feeling, although the information it provided was engaging and interesting. The strength of the arrangements themselves helped to disperse this air of amateurism. Croker and Newman did a fantastic job of articulating Davis’ spirit as a performer through the orchestral score, while the soloists added flair to the performance with their creative energy. “Concierto de Aranjuez,” the final number, finished to hearty cheers and a standing ovation from the audience.

This was a wholly satisfying tribute, and a wholly satisfying conclusion to Black History Month. The concert ended with everyone, audience included, singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” somewhat raucously accompanied by John Barrow on organ a spirited end to a spirited program. Despite its lack of organization, there was no doubt on Sunday night that the 3rd Annual Black History Month Celebration was a success.