OTTAWA - Eclectic trio Bedouin Soundclash took over Confederation Park last night with their own funky mix of reggae and rock.

It was a calculated experiment on the part of TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival organizers to go with a young, non-jazz act that would hopefully bring in the kids. Judging from the healthy draw of 8,000 -- and drop in average age from Cuban saxophonist and clarinet player Paquito D'Rivera's performance the night before -- it seemed to work.

And in retrospect, the quirky chart toppers, fresh off a New Group of the Year Juno Award win, are a perfect choice to please both crowds.

The group that started playing together six years ago while attending Queen's University in Kingston perform like long-accomplished musicians without the ego.

Raspy-voiced singer and guitarist Jay Malinowski told the crowd his group realized many had not ever seen them before.

"I just appreciate that a lot of you are sticking around," he said.

Malinowski's soulful wail defined each song during a nearly two-hour set, whether it was soaring over an addictive backbeat on opening number Gyasi Went Home or plaintively covering a tune from 1980s New York hardcore punk band Bad Brains.

The group sounded so rich and lush it was hard to believe there were but three musicians on stage, a perception owing to bassist Eon Sinclair's deep, mischievous bass guitar notes, drummer Pat Pengelly's tricky beats and Malinowski's frenetic guitar strumming working in concert.

Of course for most people, though they proved otherwise last night, Bedouin Soundclash is but one song: last year's unusual and upbeat radio hit When The Night Feels My Song, which they predictably used to close out the show, the crowd singing alone on the last words.

During their encore, they had the crowd clapping along to stirring Stand Alone, a tune Malinowski wrote his sister which will be included on the upcoming War Child benefit album.

And Malinowski urged them to add in their soccer chant best during the upbeat, mostly-wordless encore to Nothing to Say.

The Bedouin Soundclash set started off with a treat for the crowd, as respected and enduring reggae artist Vernon Maytone -- who had a 1970s heyday performing with Gladstone Grant as The Maytones -- played with the trio's backing for more than a half an hour.

Maytone opened for the Soundclash on their headlining tour of the U.K., after the group covered The Maytones' Money Worries on their latest album Sounding A Mosaic.

"If you take anything away from this show," said Malinowski, before inviting Maytone back out to sing his hit during the encore, "it was that you saw a living legend perform."