Jamie Foxx does it all for arena crowd

Not since Sammy Davis Jr. has there been as multi-talented an entertainer as Jamie Foxx. Like Davis, Foxx is an actor, singer, comedian, impressionist, ladies man and cutup, doing it all with personality, style and not a little ego.

The only thing Foxx doesn't do is dance, unless you count his hip-grinding, crotch-grabbing moves, which he did while singing his salacious come-on songs (he can, however, make his tongue dance).

Foxx had a big crowd loving his every change of character and mood Friday night at KeyArena, where he did a stand-up routine, sang with a 10-piece band, channeled Ray Charles -- as he did in his Oscar-winning starring role in "Ray," the Charles biopic -- and closed with more singing.

While Foxx didn't dance, his four stripper/dancer hotties did, in keeping with the evening's theme of sex, sex, sex.

Foxx bounded onto the stage in a red leather jacket and pumped up the crowd with cries of "206!" (Seattle's hip-hop nickname) and "Is this my section?" (setting up an ongoing rivalry between sections of the audience).

He did an imitation of Mick Jagger, pouting his lips while doing a rooster walk across the stage, demonstrated how Paris Hilton falls down when drunk, imagined doing the wild thing with Oprah, and vividly discussed a certain body part Britney Spears inadvertently revealed.

"It all comes down to three letters," he said after changing into a white suite and transforming himself into a hip-hop balladeer of boudoir come-on songs.

Do I need to spell out those three letters? That's what all the songs were about. The music got the big crowd moving, with much of the credit going to the talented band -- especially the rock guitarist -- and the four background singers.

If music, dancing girls and dirty jokes weren't enough, Foxx even showered the crowd with money -- fake money, blown out onto the crowd. The bills made for a nice souvenir.

It was entertaining but eerie to watch Foxx recreate his role as Ray Charles, looking like him, playing piano like him and singing like him.

"I'm so happy to be here in spirit tonight," he said, hugging himself like Charles did.

Foxx smartly came out of character while doing "What'd I Say," disgarding the sunglasses, the blue lame jacket and Charles' big smile, and completed the song as Foxx, turning it into a hip-hop jam.

Besides sex, the one subject that kept coming up was Foxx's Academy Award, a significant point of pride for him and his fans.

"I won that Oscar for y'all," he said, as the crowd cheered.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312, pmacdonald@seattletimes.com