What's old is new for Raphael Saadiq

Referring to his 21 years in the music business, Raphael Saadiq, 42, says, "I wasn't the biggest artist, but I wasn't the smallest." On Monday night at World Cafe Live, Saadiq and his septet were epic.

Few artists have represented the scope of 20th-century African American popular music quite like Saadiq. Doo-wop, funk, Motown, the Philly sound, blues, hip-hop, gospel, new jack swing, old R&B - all can pour from him with effortless grace and precision, sometimes in the course of a single song. As a solo artist, with his bands Tony! Toni! Toné! and Lucy Pearl, or as a producer/writer for D'Angelo, Macy Gray, Joss Stone and TLC, he has brought older forms into the present via sample-heavy funk and sweet neo-soul, with raw power and tasteful emulation.

Saadiq's bold brand of instant vintage hasn't won him huge, passionate audiences. But you wouldn't have known that from the adoring throng that packed World Cafe Live. The audience knew the words to Saadiq songs old and new.

During his crisp, 70-minute set, the strong influence of the Delfonics and the Temptations emerged in dance steps, sitars, and barnstorming rhythms. But this is no mere copy-catting; it's a considered attempt to do homage to what's great and bring it front and center. On "Oh Girl" (his original, not the old Chi-Lites hit), Saadiq's delicate falsetto had a classic Smokey Robinson air. With "Big Easy," a quick New Orleans shuffle evoked the city's spirit, and the emotion of Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke. Yet no one would confuse Saadiq with Lee Dorsey or anyone else.

And few others could have pulled off Saadiq's medley of ballads with such debonair charm. Like spinning the dial on his own oldies station, Saadiq and company unveiled each track - the slinky "Let's Take a Walk Outside," the swelling "Anniversary," and the tender "It Never Rains in Southern California" - as if discovering them anew.