"Imagine the pulling power of the three tenors with the moral standing of Nelson Mandela.'' Narrator Trevor Phillips put this to a receptive audience last night at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts in an effort to create a suitable comparison for modern hearers of the amazing story of the life of Paul Robeson that would enable them to grasp the impact of the great man on his own time. Imagine indeed.

Imagine a voice in its own way as wonderful as Robeson's, singing his songs and saying his words. Imagine a musical ensemble, trumpet, trombone, two clarinets, one doubling on alto saxophone, the other on accordion, playing deftly appropriate arrangements of the canon of Robeson and his contemporaries, Ellington and Gershwin, among others.

If you can imagine these you might have some idea of the delights enjoyed by a small but appreciative audience at last night's Bermuda Festival offering.

Entitled "A Tribute To Paul Robeson'', this work, made up of a narration of an essential outline of some of the more important facts of Robeson's life, narrated calmly and without fuss by Trevor Phillips, songs the great man became identified with, sung admirably and with superb voice by Willard White, enhanced by some stylish arrangements by conductor and part originator of the show, Robert Ziegler, achieved the important tasks of entertaining and instructing and even uplifting its audience.

White opened, appropriately, with `I am a witness'; `Deep River', `Wouldn't Take Nothin' For My Journey Now',and `Let my People Go', songs that were interspersed with Phillips' scene-setting narration.

From this we learned of Paul's family origins, and his special regard for his father, a former slave freed at 15 who became an influential preacher. He it was, we were told, who advised Paul that no race or people have a patent on either suffering or caring, a lesson that Paul applied in his life work.

`Lazy Bones' sung delightfully by White, playing lazily with the tempo followed, flavoured with a wonderful jazz trumpet solo played over a lovely trombone line.

I for one could have heard more from trumpeter Henry Lowther. Then `Ezekiel', and the lugubrious `Sad Am I', with the barest accordion accompaniment followed. The arrangements truly served the singer and his words, tastefully played by the Matrix Ensemble. There was nothing flashy -- and this is not a criticism -- until the gorgeous Ellingtonian atmospherics of `Mood Indigo'.

But I get ahead of myself.

White sang Blake's `Jerusalem', accompanied only by the piano, after which he shared with the audience that the true meaning of the title had not long before dawned upon him as not referring to any specific place, but rather to a state of heart and mind without boundaries; a very Robesonesque comment.

Meanwhile we were being supplied with the progress of Robeson's life; by now, the late 20s, he was sharing the company of other 20th Century lions: Shaw, Kenyatta, O'Neil.

The first half ended with White singing in Russian `The Red Army', and `Song of the Volga Boatmen', this latter ending in a breathless controlled sustained piano.

Some of the songs featured in the second half of the programme were `I Got A Robe', and the delightfully jazzy `Deep In My Soul'. Reflecting Robeson's deepening political solidarity with international workers' causes, White sang the wry and moving `Ballad Of Joe Hill', a famous union organiser whose railroading and judicial murder were a cause celebre of its time.

On his way to the Spanish Civil War Robeson stopped briefly to record Gershwin's `I got plenty O'Nuttin' at Abbey Road. Apparently even then a working class hero was something to be. White gave us "The Four Generals'' in English and Spanish.

Highlights for me were the gorgeous rendition by vocalist and ensemble of Ellington's `Mood Indigo', with Henry Lowther again thrilling us with an artful trumpet solo over arranger Robert Zeigler's exquisite arrangement. `Do You Call That A Brother', `Didn't my Lord Deliver Daniel', and then for a finale, `Ol'Man River' brought the eclectic concert to its close.

The audience clapped until Mr. White gave them `Everytime I feel the Spirit' as an encore. For a moment I thought he was about to invite the audience to sing along. I've no doubt that they would have.

Ronald Lightbourne