And the subtitle, “A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy,” explains its animating purpose. But the truest distillation of the festival’s tone might have come from its curator, the soprano Jessye Norman, at a kickoff concert on Wednesday night.
“This is a journey of exploration, impression and expression,” Ms. Norman, regally attired in a firecracker-red gown, declared at the top of the program. “So let us begin — there is homage to be paid, recognition to be offered and joy to be shared.” Her stagy yet momentous delivery called to mind the ceremonial pomp of a televised awards show.
On the whole, the festival reflects similarly weighty intentions. Along with foolproof fare like “A Celebration of the Spiritual and Gospel Music” (March 22 at the Apollo Theater), the lineup includes panel discussions, neighborhood concerts and a high school choral festival. Ms. Norman will perform on Saturday, in a concert of Duke Ellington’s sacred music at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine; and on March 16, in the premiere of a piece called “Ask Your Mama!” after the book of poems by Langston Hughes.
Wednesday’s stated agenda was nothing less than a history of African-American music, from ragtime to hip-hop. This could have been a galvanizing challenge had the concert made a serious effort to address it. But as organized by Ray Chew, the music director for “Showtime at the Apollo” and “The Singing Bee” on NBC, it held a narrow demographic focus, opening with a Motown-hit medley by Ashford & Simpson and closing with Freddie Jackson singing a Luther Vandross song. (There was recognition to be offered.)
This was the kind of night in which a cache of celebrity announcers — chiefly the actors Ben Vereen and Wendell Pierce — did their best with a ponderous script, stopping for applause at every mention of a Ray Charles or a Bessie Smith. (There was homage to be paid.)
The trumpeter Terence Blanchard, with a group that included Ron Carter on bass, paid courtly tribute to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington before helping the young R&B singer Leela James through “Good Morning Heartache.” (Ms. James came in costume as Billie Holiday, complete with white gardenia, but that didn’t alter her shaky grasp of the song.) Another jazz segment featured the saxophonist James Carter ripping through songs by Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane and Miles Davis, with an extravagant flair.
The blues felt offhandedly assigned to the guitarist-singers James (Blood) Ulmer and Toshi Reagon. Rock got an even more cursory treatment: the guitarist Vernon Reid and the singer Corey Glover, from Living Colour, barreled through “Johnny B. Goode” (Chuck Berry) and “Crosstown Traffic” (Jimi Hendrix). Soul fared better, as Anthony Hamilton dug into Bill Withers’s “Use Me” — it was the right song for him, but in the wrong key — and Ryan Shaw delivered a polished take on Sam Cooke’s “Change Is Gonna Come.” Ms. James also returned, toasting James Brown and Aretha Franklin with some success.
Hip-hop was gamely represented by MC Lyte, who rattled off three of her No. 1 rap singles from around the turn of the 1990s, and by Doug E. Fresh, who managed to make his appearance feel exuberant, untamed. (There was joy to be shared.) He name-checked several boroughs; he waved a hand in the air. And it hardly mattered that his performance felt like an almost random sampling. However noble its intentions, most of the concert had suggested the same thing.
