If you were looking for a thumbnail sketch of guitar wiz Ben Harper, it was in your face at the beginning of his hugely satisfying sold-out show at Massey Hall on Saturday night.

Backed by his three-piece Innocent Criminals band, the 27-year-old segued smoothly from the bluesy-folksy Oppression into reggae legend Peter Tosh's classic Get Up, Stand Up, substituting the original lyrics with, "We're sick and tired of your poison technology, slowly surely killing off humanity."

File Ben Harper under Highly Original.

Folkies can't claim him, and neither can blues fanatics. Reggae fans have probably never heard of him, and neither has your average metal head.

Harper excels at effortlessly distilling all the sounds that excite his ears -- everything from Woody Guthrie to Robert Johnson, Bob Marley to Jimi Hendrix, and Public Enemy to Ali Akbar Khan -- into a soulful whole.

This became apparent several times during the California native's two-hour concert.

Homeless Child, from his most recent album, The Will To Live, featured the type of feverish tambourine rattling you're guaranteed to encounter at a black gospel concert over some tasty acid blues.

A thunderous rendition of Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile began with Harper laying down some riffs that resonated with anyone who digs classical Indian music.

Hip-hop heads would've loved watching Harper 'scratching' a record -- his right hand manipulated an invisible piece of vinyl while he played slide with his left hand -- before slipping into Fight For Your Mind.

And reggae fans would've noticed how Harper sweetly wove elements of Redemption Song, Bob Marley's classic, into Burn One Down.

Harper, who remained seated during the entire show, played songs from his three albums on a variety of guitars.

His weapons of choice include a standard acoustic, and three Weissenborn guitars -- vintage hollow-necked slide guitars -- which he played on his lap with religious fervor.

Harper will tell you he doesn't "play guitar as much as I feel guitar," and this became obvious at his stellar performance.

His instrument seems to dictate the direction of the song: All Ben Harper does is submit to it while delivering his pensive songs of life with a plaintive voice and a spirit and sincerity that's extremely rare in today's music.

NOTE: Ben Harper's Will To Live CD has been re-issued along with a bonus live EP featuring the title track, Faded, Forever, I Shall Not Walk Alone, and an 111/2-minute version of Hendrix' Voodoo Chile.

Expect Harper and The Innocent Criminals to play here late July as part of the HORDE Tour.

JAM! Rating: 5 out of 5