The Byham Theater was packed to the rafters Friday night to hear one of Pittsburgh's own jazz legends -- Ahmad Jamal -- and the audience was treated to, essentially, two different concerts. Based on the reaction at the end, it mattered little what setting he played in; it all met with approval, including a five-minute standing ovation, and I think the audience was disappointed that there was no encore.

The first half was strictly a small-group affair, with the 79-year-old Homewood-reared pianist directing traffic as to who in his quartet should come in and when. Jamal's performance on such material as "Flight to Russia" (he didn't say what he played) was a little more idiosyncratic than I was used to hearing from him.

I was surprised at his classic rendition of "Poinciana." The tune came early in the set and provided a sense of intimacy and intricacy -- impressionistic, if you will -- that, as far as atmosphere, rivaled classical music. Former Spyro Gyra percussionist Manolo Badrena shone, especially on "Flight to Russia."

However, the second half was a setting different from what people might be used to hearing from him, with a big band -- the MCG Big Band at that, with all top local musicians -- reprising music that he arranged and apparently had never been played outside of New York. And I think it sounded pretty good -- unfortunately, I was seated directly in front of Jamal's piano and thus couldn't see much of the band and could barely hear it.

For me, the highlights of the second half were the soloists. Tenor saxophonist Eric DeFade turned in a stellar improvisation on Monty Alexander's "You Can See," and trombonist Jeff Bush wowed the crowd on Mr. Jamal's original "Aftermath." The best of the big-band stuff was probably the whimsical, waltz-like "Should I," another composition penned by Mr. Jamal, featuring Kenny Powell on alto flute and Ken Rittenhouse delivering a stellar solo on Harmon-muted trumpet.

Aside from not hearing all the "colors" of the big band, my only complaint was that I would have like to have known what tunes he was playing during the quartet session.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.