In any style, Joe Jackson still looks sharp

Joe Jackson With Eric Hutchinson
At: Somerville Theatre,
Wednesday night

SOMERVILLE -- Joe Jackson never restricts himself to one era on record. So it wasn't surprising Wednesday night when the veteran piano man took the Somerville Theatre audience on a stroll through history, his own and others'.

In a well-played 90-minute performance, Jackson and his band -- ageless bass player Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton -- transformed the theater into a British music hall circa 1913, a joint - jumping '30s speak - easy, a '70s new wave dive, an '80s supper club, and a contemporary music workshop for the new material he's writing.

Each stop on the journey held its pleasures for the enthusiastic -- if steadfastly seated -- sold-out crowd.

Jackson began the night gently sitting at his grand piano , teasing out the bittersweet ``Hometown" and then rolling seamlessly into his early '80s hit ``Steppin' Out."

Maby arrived to add spidery, low-end bass lines to a minor-chord reworking of ``It's Different for Girls," and Houghton appeared in time for the night's first new tune, the vibrant, he-doth-protest number ``Too Tough."

Ovations for classics such as the still whip - smart ``On Your Radio" and the encore ``Is She Really Going Out With Him?" were lusty. But the rollicking ``Hello, Hello Who's Your Lady Friend?" -- a beery British singalong Jackson performs in the 2005 period film ``The Greatest Game Ever Played" -- and a happy romp through Duke Ellington's ``Don't Get Around Much Anymore" drew cheers as well.

Jackson may have played one new song too many, judging by the diminishing response to the phrase ``here's another new one." But a couple of the fresh tracks shared the verbal dexterity and musical energy for which the 51-year-old Brit is known.

The night ended with the band members departing in the order they had arrived during the coda of an impassioned ``A Slow Song," a revived tradition of Jackson's that's a lovely way to tip a cap to each musician.

Eric Hutchinson warmed the crowd up with a combination of cheeky humor and melody-driven pop tunes.