E. J. Strickland Project and Olatuja Project at 92Y Tribeca E. J. Strickland Project and Olatuja Project": Alicia Olatuja,performing at 92Y Tribeca on Wednesday nigh The E. J. Strickland Project and Olatuja Project, which appeared one after the other at 92Y Tribeca on Wednesday night, have a lot more in common than the last word in their names. But that mundane point of overlap tells you something about each group. One, led by the jazz drummer E. J. Strickland, made its set a bundle of newly rearranged Stevie Wonder songs; its project was discrete, like a home-improvement job. The other, led by the bassist Michael Olatuja and his wife, the singer Alicia Olatuja, simply delivered a well-honed message; its project was a perpetual thing, a way of being. The E. J. Strickland Project, with Mr. Strickland on drums and Marcus Strickland on sax, revised a set of Stevie Wonder songs. Olatuja Project opened the concert, which was broadcast on WBGO, 88.3 FM, and archived online at npr.org. And from the start this band made rhythm paramount. Mr. Olatuja, who grew up in both Lagos, Nigeria, and London, favors an amalgam of West African styles, often overlaid with soul and gospel harmony. Ms. Olatuja is an American gospel singer with a strong, lustrous tone and an amiably regal presence onstage. On "Sumo Mi (Draw Nearer) " she scatted a syncopated line along with Mr. Olatuja's bass line; on "The Playground" she altered her phrasing, either floating above the groove or digging in. She blended well with the group's three backup singers and expertly handled the songs" oscillations between Yoruba and English. Improvisation wasn't the driving point, but its challenge was still decisively met with a handful of prepossessing solos by Mr. Olatuja on five-string electric bass and Christian Sands, on piano and electric keyboard. During "Iye (Life in Abundance)," a gospel testimonial over a 12/8 churn, Mr. Sands unleashed a showstopper, starting sparse (but with superb touch) and working up to a two-handed polyrhythmic swarm. The E. J. Strickland Project's set was reliably more overrun with solo heroics, mainly by its leader and a commanding pair of saxophonists, Jaleel Shaw and Marcus Strickland (E. J."s twin brother). But the efforts of two singers, Charenee Wade and Pauline Jean, made it clear that here too the songs themselves were the focus. And Mr. Strickland chose interestingly from the Stevie Wonder canon, including tracks from the "Jungle Fever" soundtrack and the 1985 album "In Square Circle." Mr. Wonder has long had the elusive ability to make flamboyant musical choices feel intuitive, or at least unlabored. One shortcoming of Mr. Strickland's arrangements was that they felt, by contrast, overlabored. His version of "Golden Lady" opened with an interpolation of John Coltrane's "Love Supreme," for no clear reason; "As" ended with a lurching 7/8 vamp, for the sheer purpose of setting up a drum solo. And the vocalists were underused, rarely harmonizing and often merely taking turns. But that's not to say Mr. Strickland has no business on this turf. There were moments in his set that glowed. One was Mr. Shaw's solo on "Ribbon in the Sky," a marvel of gutbucket enlightenment; there were cheers when he found his way back to the melody. Should Mr. Strickland be seeking a future for this project, he knows where to pick up the thread.