This has been a bumper year for black-music fans in Brighton.

The Brighton Dome has led the way by hosting a number of exciting acts, such as Miriam Makeba, Baaba Maal, Mose Fan Fan and Angie Stone.

The latest icon to grace these shores is Randy Crawford.

At the age of 50, Crawford sounds as warm and fresh as she did all those years ago when had her first major hit, Streetlife, with the Jazz Crusaders.

Her sweet, rich tones are simply irresistible and the 1,000 plus audience was instantly seduced when she opened with her unique interpretation of George Benson's Give Me The Night.

Her largely enjoyable 90-minute set was tightly woven and included classics such as Almaz, Rainy Night In Georgia and One Day I'll Fly Away.

She also performed Cajun Moon, What A Difference A Day Makes, Captain Of Her Heart and Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heaven's Door.

Surprisingly, she ended with the John Lennon classic Imagine instead of the timeless You Might Need Somebody.

It was what many were expecting and was conspicuously absent from the repertoire.

Crawford knew her choice of Imagine would surprise everyone because she said: "I know it's not what you might want to hear but you're getting it anyway."

But she said it so charmingly it was easy to forgive her for leaving out what is certainly a favourite.

While Crawford's set was musically perfect - a credit to her fantastic group of musicians - she is not the most animated performer.

She doesn't dance very much and doesn't move far from centre stage.

This, combined with a repertoire of ballads, made the set seem, dare I say, boring at a certain point.

She would have benefited from some more groovy tunes and greater audience interaction.

This was not a problem, though, for show opener Ray Gaskins.

The energetic, funny American jazz musician had the audience singing along and clapping.

Gaskins plays keyboards and sax and has an absolutely fantastic voice.

It was really neat the way he incorporated songs from other genres into his own jazz tunes.

It was a nice touch when he dropped in the chorus from Bob Marley's I Don't Want To Wait In Vain but I think some of the younger members of the audience were more enthused when he started singing Ali G's Me Julie.

Gaskins may not be a major jazz name but he's a seasoned performer who has played with such luminaries as Roy Ayers.

Review by Franka Philip, franka.philip@theargus.co.uk