With the loss of Whitney Houston fresh in everyone’s hearts, the mood may have been a bit more somber than usual during the recent NAACP Awards held in Los Angeles, but the music soared nonetheless. The all star house band led by the brilliant Adam Blackstone and featuring guitarist Randy Bowland provided sublime accompaniment to powerful performances by Jill Scott as well as a duet from Jennifer Hudson and Ne-Yo of the Dianna Ross classic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. Randy employed his Ovation Al DiMeola model (1769-ADII) for all things acoustic. The 43rd Annual NAACP Image Awards aired live last Friday on NBC.