Voices and spirits raised at New Orleans-flavored gospel concert

The roof got raised a little bit higher Monday evening when New Orleans pianist-singer Davell Crawford and vocalist Marva Wright -- who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina -- joined the Berklee School of Music's annual gospel concert, giving the spiritual themes of suffering and redemption a concrete manifestation that could leave no one unmoved.

The room was ready. Three small ensembles, Men of Valor, Women of Virtue, and the mixed-gender OverJoyed, featuring one talented soloist after another, had given the crowded house plenty to respond to. They had swayed with Khadia Davidson on the midtempo ''I'm a Believer," scatted with Grace Taylor on ''The Real Party," and shouted with the vocal acrobatics and organ stylings of choir director Dennis Montgomery III.

The evening was reverent but casual, the performers in street clothes, the announcement of each soloist loudly greeted by his or her personal cheering section. But when Montgomery called out, ''Choir, where are you?" and the Reverence Gospel Ensemble with upward of 40 singers filed onstage in red and white robes, the osmosis from theater to church was complete.

It was time for the main event. Crawford came to the piano, the room hushed until the shape of the song grew clear. It was Randy Newman's ''Louisiana 1927," put to a gospel arrangement. ''I want to thank you for my life right now," Crawford interjected, and there was no question as to his sincerity.

Wright then took the stage, praising the Lord, the choir, and the audience. ''I've been through a lot of stress, and the difficulties that come with the stress," she said. And then she launched into a song that perfectly suited the occasion: Sam Cooke's incomparable ''A Change Is Gonna Come." She emerged, seamlessly, into pure gospel. ''Stand up!" she called; the room rose, the choir erupted.

This was another victory for Berlee's initiative to host displaced musicians from New Orleans -- and hence, for the music itself.