By Chris Varias
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Saturday night's show at the Taft Theatre proved that the term new age is an umbrella for everything from Middle Eastern chants to Beatles songs to Christmas carols.

Local public-radio station WVXU presented "An Echoes Winter Solstice," named in part for the music program the station broadcasts. Jai Uttal, an American world-music artist, headlined this year's edition of the annual `VXU concert.

In his 90-minute set Mr. Uttal combed the globe, especially the Eastern portion of it, to find soothing new-age sounds - yoga music, if you will. Mr. Uttal plays a variety of instruments, including the dotar and harmonium, both of which are common in Indian music, as well as acoustic guitar and banjo. He has lived in India and studied with such noted singers and musicians as Ali Akbar Khan and the Bauls of Bengal.

Mr. Uttal was joined by the Pagan Love Orchestra, a trio made of acoustic guitarist and folksinger Tina Malia; Steve Gorn, playing various wind instruments including bansuri, which is a bamboo flute; and percussionist Jeffrey Gordon. The foursome, equipped with their harmoniums and tablas and acoustic guitars and bamboo flutes, turned exotic sounds into something tamer. They essentially turned Saturday night into Sunday afternoon.

The first song announced Mr. Uttal's way of doing business. It began with him singing an Indian chant, which sounded good, and morphed into the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," as if, right from the start, he had to spoon feed the idea that Indian music was safe, that the Beatles liked sitars so we, the audience, should like what was to follow.

What followed was watered-down world music, with the occasional folk song thrown in to keep us English speakers interested. Who knows? Maybe Mr. Uttal is a fine American interpreter of Indian and Middle Eastern music. He just didn't give the crowd the chance to find out.

The opener, Cincinnati's own Monk, was the highlight of the show. Monk principal Ric Hordinski seemed tickled by the chance to play the grand old room, and he said as much. He, along with bassist Mike Georgin, drummer Josh Seurkamp and vocalist Renee Frye, made the most of the opportunity, delivering an hour-long set of shimmering instrumentals, exquisitely crafted folk-rock, and even a couple of holiday tunes.

E-mail cvarias@enquirer.com