Director-conductor Brad Dawson and the FHSU Jazz Ensembles performed a concert Thursday evening that had something good for fans of all ages -- whether they call "good" cool or hot.

From the first notes of Mike Barone's "Superslick," used for years at the end of "The Tonight Show" (Dawson asked us if we remembered Jack Paar), to the final cadences of Sammy Nestico's "Magic Flea," everyone -- performers and audience alike -- had a great time.

After leading off with "Superslick," Ensemble II performed several other selections, most notably "Natalie's Song," a ballad with a wistful melody and good beat featuring Joe Doze on flugelhorn. In addition to Doze, the ensemble boasts talented soloists, including Levi Spicer, saxophone; Mark Turnquest, trombone; and Kelsey Spangler on drums.

Ensemble I swung into action with Dave Barduhn's arrangement of "Milestones" by Miles Davis, with Jon Yust on trumpet and Joel Zeiner on drums. The tempo accelerated with Gordon Goodwin's "Mueva Los Huesos" (shake your bones) -- Brian Keller on alto sax and Ben Galloway on trombone were soloists in this lively number.

Ethan Kinderknecht on tenor sax and Yust on trumpet rose from the ensemble to get in some hot (or cool) licks with "Red Clay," a jazz rock standard. Keller on alto sax earned a handshake from conductor Dawson for his solo in Yoko Kanno's "Tank," a wild ride that Dawson said started out as the theme music for a Japanese animated series titled "Cowboy Bebop." This arrangement, by Eric Dannewitz, certainly did rock, bop and swing.

The ensemble continued with a couple of gentler, kinder standards, John Coltrane's "Impressions," arranged by Mark Taylor, featuring Chad Foust on guitar and Frank Mantooth's arrangement of Cole Porter's "So in Love," with a mellow solo from Yust on flugelhorn.

Kinderknecht on tenor sax and Keller on alto dueled so effectively in John Bambridge's hot, hot, hot "Sax Alley" that they had to shake hands and make up at its conclusion. In contrast, drummers Zeiner and Austin Barnes got along so well in "Spanish Fire" by Michael Philip Mossman that the rest of the band stood there chortling while Dawson had to cue them to get on with it with a heavier hand than usual.

The last number, "Magic Flea" roused the audience to fever pitch and a standing ovation for a concert that really cooked (froze?).

* The next event in the FHSU series will be the recital of Benjamin Morris-Cline, cello, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17.

Ruth Firestone is a supporter of music and theater in Hays.