Roy Hargrove plays the Dakota about once a year, and it’s always worth going to see him. Prince thought so; he and his friend Larry Graham were in the house on Monday night, something most of us didn’t know until he came down from the mezzanine at the end of the show. He walked right past me. I could have reached out and touched him, but then his bodyguard might have broken my nose.

The last time Hargrove brought his band to town, in September 2008, club owner Lowell Pickett introduced them by saying, “This quintet is at the top of the world.” No argument here. I have never been disappointed by the energy, the musicality, the showmanship and the surprises of Hargrove and the musicians he surrounds himself with. This time it’s Sullivan Fortner on piano, Justin Robinson on saxophone, Dwayne Burno on bass and Montez Coleman on drums.

I was expecting Gerald Clayton on piano. I admit to being disappointed when I heard he was no longer with Hargrove’s band, but I got over that as soon as Fortner touched the keys. Born in New Orleans, he started playing piano at 4, learned gospel in church and studied jazz at Oberlin. As of December 2008, he was studying at the Manhattan School of Music with Jason Moran. I don’t think he has ever performed in the Twin Cities before, but he can hurry back.

During the late set, we heard several tunes from "Earfood," Hargrove’s latest CD, which was released in June 2008 and spent several weeks at the top of the jazz charts. Cedar Walton's "I’m Not So Sure" was a high-energy start. Lou Marini's lovely "Starmaker" followed, with a long interlude by Robinson. There had been some chitchat and settling in and ordering of drinks during "I’m Not So Sure," but Robinson’s solo threw a switch and from that moment on it was a listening crowd, the energy and excitement building.

After "The Stinger," a swinging Hargrove original, Roy traded trumpet for flugelhorn and gave us a beautiful ballad: "Speak Low." If you knew the lyrics to this tune ("Speak low, darling, speak low/Love is a spark, lost in the dark too soon, too soon"), you could almost hear them in his slow, breathy notes. If you didn’t know the lyrics, you still understood you were being wooed.

(A bit of music trivia: "Speak Low" was written by Ogden Nash, writer of light verse -- "You can have my jellyfish/I’m not sellyfish" -- and Kurt Weill, writer of serious opera and the song "Mack the Knife.")

Almost without a breath, the quintet launched into "Invitation" from Hargrove's "Nothing Serious" (2006). Dwayne set the beat, Hargrove burst in with a furious run of staccato notes on his trumpet, Coleman committed drumfire and the crowd erupted. At the booth next to us, people shouted "Whoa!" and "Yeah!" and "Come on!" Fortner played a thunderous solo of fast runs and fat chords, lifting his hands high above the keys. There may have been more notes in that one tune than in most whole sets.

The encore: a laid-back take on Sam Cooke’s "Bring It on Home to Me." A night of shifting moods, rhythms and speeds, fine solo turns, and fun all around, on stage and in the audience.

In Monday’s Strib, Chris Riemenschneider wrote about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Simply put, not enough rock shows are as thrilling as this one. ... Things really got exciting." That happens in jazz, too. It’s likely to happen again tonight, when Hargrove and his quintet return to the Dakota stage. I hear a lot of area musicians are expected to show and maybe sit in. You might want to call and reserve a seat.

Roy Hargrove Quintet, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, June 2), Dakota, 612-332-5299 ($40/$25).