Frankie Beverly, Maze Give Tried-and-True R

The best thing about R&B; singer Frankie Beverly is that he’s not trying to be Bobby Brown.

Backed by his band Maze, Beverly, who opened a four-night engagement at the Universal Amphitheater on Thursday, is an R&B; veteran who’s satisfied working in the genre’s venerated, tried-and-true style. The result was one of the best R&B; shows to come to town in years.

It had everything--impeccable musicianship and gutsy, sensuous mid-tempo groove-orientation. On songs like “Silky Soul” and “Love’s on the Run,” Beverly showed off his high, rich voice, falling somewhere between James Brown and Marvin Gaye--silky-smooth, yet decidedly funky.

Beverly is one of the few veterans who realize that 40-ish singers look silly trying to get into that youthful hip-hop groove. He’s a throwback to the days when singers could really sing--back in that prehistoric age before music videos and the limited vocal demands of dance music opened the doors to cute, limber non-singers. Accordingly, Thursday night’s audience was mostly a black yuppie crowd. Too bad more teen-agers weren’t there to see what R&B; can be like in the hands of an artist who knows what he’s doing.

Regina Belle, who opened the show with an absorbing set, is the best R&B; balladeer this side of Anita Baker. Belle’s style, with its gospel and jazz influences, is perfectly suited to intense, anguished romantic ballads, which she attacks with incredible power and feeling. The primary difference between Belle and Baker is that Baker has somewhat better songs.