NEW ORLEANS — Janet Jackson enthralled the Essence Music Festival audience Friday, kept them on their feet for more than two hours and reminded fans why seeing her in concert was worth waiting two years.

From the opening notes of "The Pleasure Principle" to "Control" to "Rhythm Nation," the Grammy Award-winning singer enticed, teased and brought her fans on a journey through her No. 1 hits.

"She was unbelievable," said Ed Downs of Miami. "It was definitely worth the wait. I'm happy to see her make a comeback. It was impressive."

Jackson marked her return by closing the festival's first night inside the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. It was her first time at the festival, which runs through Sunday.

Former NBA player Anferenee Hardaway called Jackson's performance "absolutely perfect," and said no one could tell she had been off the concert circuit for any length of time.

"She definitely gets better with age," he said, smiling.

Fans got a glimpse of Jackson's new, sassy, short-cropped hair and her signature, shapely figure on the finale show of American Idol where she rocked classics like "Again" and "Nasty" and her latest release, "Nothing," from the soundtrack of the movie, "Why Did I Get Married Too?," which she also starred in.

But near the end of her show Friday, they were treated with even more as she depicted a risque, S&M scene with a male participant from the audience, whose hands and arms were strapped into a straight jacket as Jackson — in a flesh-toned body suit — worked him over, whip in hand.

He mouthed, "Thank you," and couldn't take his eyes off her, getting roars of approval, looks of envy and applause from the crowd.

"I loved it," said Rose Ellerbee of New York. "It was one of the hottest shows I've seen and then she brought back so many memories. She didn't lose a beat."

Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., was as excited as anyone to hear Jackson in person. She said festival organizers had invited Jackson numerous times during the last 15 years and this year she finally accepted.

"Prayer works," Ebanks said laughing.

The festival is celebrating the magazine's 40th anniversary this year and Ebanks said they wanted to do so by putting the spotlight on strong, powerful female artists. In addition to Jackson, the lineup includes Gladys Knight, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, Monica, Keri Hilson, Chrisette Michele, Lalah Hathaway, Melanie Fiona, Estelle, Ledisi, Laura Izibor and New Orleans' own Irma Thomas.

"It means a great deal for me to be in the company of such wonderful women, women who I have the pleasure of knowing personally," Jackson said in an interview before her performance. "I'm especially honored to be able to play on a stage that also hosts Gladys Knight. She watched me grow up and I remember her being around the Motown family when I was a kid. It's definitely an honor."

Jackson, 44, said she has wanted to come to the festival previously but a jam-packed schedule didn't allow it.

"It didn't really permit me this time either, but because I really wanted to do it, we've worked it in," she said.

Jackson also is preparing for another movie collaboration with actor-director Tyler Perry, starring in his upcoming film adaptation, "For Colored Girls." She plays the "Red" character in the film, which is based on Ntozake Shange's 1975 Tony Award-nominated play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf."

"I'm finally living my dream of acting," said Jackson, who also starred in Perry's film, "Why Did I Get Married?".

"Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for all that God has bestowed upon me as far as singing is concerned, but I never thought I would be a singer," she said. "My father wanted me to sing. I wanted to act. And, now, I'm finally living that dream."

Still, Jackson said she has no plans to stop performing or making music but does see writing and developing scripts in her future. "I'm really drawn to the action stuff and I love sci-fi. That really drives me crazy," she said.

The role of "author" also soon will be attached to her name. "True You," a book chronicling Jackson's lifelong struggles with weight and self-esteem, is set for release this fall.

"It's not an autobiography, but I tell anecdotes about my life from when I was a kid to now," she said. "Things happen that can affect a child for the rest of their life and I didn't want to just speak to adults about these issues, so the book reflects that."

Nikki Yanofsky mixes pop, soul

and jazz on her new album, Nikki. "It's all about versatility," she says.

CONCERT PREVIEW

NIKKI YANOFSKY

With: John Pizzarelli

What: Part of the Edmonton International Jazz Festival

When: Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Winspear Centre

Tickets: $59.75 to $70.25 through the Winspear box office

Nikki Yanofsky was up early, and already on. "Mee-ee-ee-ee," she sang one recent morning, warming up in a tiny dressing room of a Manhattan television studio. A makeup artist leaned in to apply some last-minute touches, and she paused, eyeing her reflection. "You know how everyone says, 'I'm a morning person' or 'I'm a night person'?" she chirped. "I'm just a person." Her parents, seated on either side of her, smiled.

Yanofsky, the 16-year-old jazz-pop singer from Hampstead, Que., was about to perform on the Morning News show of the New York television station WPIX, one of three such appearances that day. With her small frame, delicate features and bright-eyed demeanour, she seemed even younger than her years, but also like a seasoned professional. She wore a black blazer over a white T-shirt and leather pants, crediting the look to Dsquared2, the same designers who put her in a red silk-crepe cocktail dress for the opening ceremony in Vancouver of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was her prepossessing turn on that global stage, belting a dramatically embellished O Canada, that effectively served as her debutante ball on the international stage. (She was also the voice behind

the Vancouver Games' theme song, I Believe.)

Nikki, the album she released in April, pursues a similar agenda of maximum exposure. Produced by Phil Ramone, whose track record includes not only late-period Sinatra and Tony Bennett, but also blockbuster albums by Paul Simon and Billy Joel, the album is a melange of songbook standards and adult-contemporary-leaning originals, with a special focus on Yanofsky's canny mimicry of Ella Fitzgerald. The album's blend of ardent nostalgia and crossover ambition says something about the shifting centre of Yanofsky's talent and, just as clearly, highlights some tricky distinctions between the practice and the perception of jazz singing, especially where commercial interests are involved.

These days, when jazz vocals succeed on a pop scale, there's often a ghost lurking in the background: Picture Michael Buble riffing on Frank Sinatra, or Madeleine Peyroux summoning Billie Holiday, or even Natalie Cole's beyond-the-grave duets with her father, Nat. In the case of Yanofsky, the Fitzgerald affinity runs deep. It formed the basis of her appeal four years ago, when she grabbed headlines at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. It was the reason for her inclusion on We All Love Ella, a 2007 compilation, and the focus of her 2008 debut, Ella ... Of Thee I Swing, released on A440, a label established by her father, Richard Yanofsky.

Inevitably, too, it was a talking point at WPIX, the first question asked. Yanofsky fielded it with reflexive enthusiasm, but her performance steered clear of that reference entirely. What she sang instead was Over the Rainbow in a style that suggested a Broadway show-stopper with flickering traces of R&B.

"I don't consider myself a jazz singer," Yanofsky said over breakfast with her parents after leaving the studio. "I just consider myself a singer. Because if I considered myself just a jazz singer, then I wouldn't be allowed to do all those little inflections, things that I just want to do naturally. So I'm shooting myself in the foot, missing out on other genres that could help me grow as an artist."

Yanofsky cited the pop and soul elements on Nikki to underscore her point. "It's all about versatility," she said. "And the thing is, I'm like that in everything. One day I decide I want to be a hippie, the next day I decide I want to be a rocker."

Yanofsky, who appears Tuesday night at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival, has a relationship to jazz that is at once evocative and evasive. She embraces its accoutrements-- notably scat singing, the wordless high-wire act that was a Fitzgerald specialty -- with period fidelity, as if donning a costume or inhabiting a role. Nikki opens with a brassy saunter through Take the A Train, in high Fitzgerald fashion; it also features an I Got Rhythm with room for scat heroics, and You'll Have To Swing It (Mr. Paganini), a Fitzgerald vehicle par excellence. Then there's First Lady, a torpid original that name-checks its inspiration outright: "I feel compelled to thank you/Dear Ella."

For now her forays into pop are generically versatile, in the manner of a middle-of-the-road American Idol contestant. To see her in concert is to wait for the crackle of her better jazz moments.

"She's got charms and chops, albeit amazing but imitative chops, and she does have professional poise onstage," said Michael Bourne, the host of Singers Unlimited on the Newark, N.J., jazz station WBGOFM, which featured her at a gala last year. "I look forward to hearing the promise of Nikki's chops as she grows up and grows into some true artistry."

By implying that jazz poses a stylistic limitation, Yanofsky seems out of step with contemporary currents in jazz singing, a discipline that has been moving toward openness and flexibility.

"There was a period where jazz singing really did become more conservative," said Dominique Eade, a veteran of the field. "But I feel like this strong and informed and creative sensibility, from young singers of many persuasions, is resounding in the culture now."

This situation wasn't so different 10 years ago, when prominent jazz singers fell roughly into two camps: restless hybridizers, like Cassandra Wilson, and high-polish classicists, like Diana Krall. That era even had its Nikki Yanofsky in Jane Monheit, whose dark curls and earnest comportment accompanied a pristinely articulated style.

An important change over the last decade has been the arrival of Norah Jones, a singer of jazz instinct but country-folk inclinations.

It hardly seems a coincidence that Yanofsky wrote most of the originals on her album with Jesse Harris, who wrote Don't Know Why, Jones's breakout hit.

"For whatever Nikki lacked in years, she lacked nothing in confidence and enthusiasm," Harris said, adding that their collaboration (also with the Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith), yielded several songs a day: wistful ballads, like For Another Day, and Motown-flavoured fare, like Cool My Heels.

Ramone, the producer, said that he had encouraged Yanofsky's song-writing

as a way to extend her career. "Once you get past the novelty, it's over," he said, referring to her scat singing. "You have to run with those shoes, and it has to be good."

At breakfast, similar concerns were cited by her parents, Richard and Elyssa Yanofsky, who double as their daughter's managerial team. "The last thing I want to be is a stupid pet trick," Nikki said.

Her father, an amateur keyboardist, recognized his daughter's talent early. "I knew she had perfect pitch toward the age of two or three," he said.

"But we weren't thinking about a career then," Elyssa said.

"No, of course not," Richard replied. "That's preposterous." Nikki interjected: "Yeah, they never, ever, ever pushed me, which is amazing. They just supported me. I always said, 'I want to be a singer, I want to be a singer.' "

Her father added: "The whole thing was so organic. Nothing was planned, it just happened naturally. I had a cover band and we took her out on a couple of gigs."

Still, Nikki's debut, at 11 -- singing Aretha Franklin's Respect with the cover band -- was seen by both parents as a threshold. "I said to Elyssa, 'After tonight, everything's going to be different for her,' " Yanofsky said.

Andre Menard, the artistic director of the Montreal Jazz Festival, saw Yanofsky perform with her father's band not long afterward in a local club.

"I heard this remarkable voice, where it was almost uncanny, bizarre to hear what she seemed to be channelling," he recalled. "She was 12, but she looked 9. So I met her parents and said we should find her a place to play in our free program. And the father rose to the occasion. They mounted this very big show for her, way beyond the budget. She made all the national media that night."

After breakfast, there was time to kill before the next New York appearance, on Better, a program on the female-targeted Meredith Network. So Yanofsky went on a mission to find Converse sneakers in a particular shade of green. After some persistent questioning of sales clerks by her mother, they lucked into a pair. Nikki tried them on, uploaded a picture to Twitter and declared that she would be wearing them during the forthcoming segment. "I should be endorsed by Converse," she said.

The Better appearance, a straightforward interview, went smoothly. Audra Lowe, the host, didn't even mention Ella Fitzgerald until a minute and a half in, and when she did, Yanofsky struck the perfect balance of deference and distance.

"The covers, you hear my influences and you know who inspired me, and then you go to the originals, all of which I co-wrote, and you kind of hear how they inspired me," she said, repeating a line from earlier. "You kind of get to know me through the music."