Paying tribute to a well-known pop musician's oeuvre can be an exuberant celebration, but it can also be a fraught endeavor. What qualifies an artist to participate in a tribute? What goes into his choice of a song? Can tribute performances be measured on their merits or necessarily be judged against the original? To what extent should tributes serve as homage and to what extent should they offer something new?

All these questions came up at Wednesday's Carnegie Hall tribute honoring the 30-year collaboration of lyricist Bernie Taupin and composer/performer Elton John, which is, admittedly, quite a body of work. The task of paying tribute seemed daunting for most of the 2-hour, 20-song show, but the artists's enthusiasm about participating and the range of ways in which they tried, showed off both the quality of their musicianship and the quality of the oeuvre of Messrs. Taupin and John.

The chance to see new talent break out is one of the great perks of such an event, and Wednesday it was the Brooklyn-based band Fools for April's beautiful version of "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters," a New York song for a New York band. Throughout the evening, as various members of Fools for April came back to play back-up for other performers, they offered additional reasons to look toward their as-yet unreleased debut CD with anticipation.

Although the massive orchestrations that often accompany Elton John songs made mimicry difficult, there were several worthy performances in the "homage" category, such as 1980s synth-pop hit maker Pete Byrne of Naked Eyes singing "Rocket Man" in an Elton John haircut and glasses, and starting out soul singer Ryan Shaw belting "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues" (his grin, however, seemed a bit out of place).

Female voices shined, chief among them Phoebe Snow and Lizz Wright. Wow, did Ms. Snow bring down the house, but then, she knows a thing or two about covers: Queen Latifah has covered her 1975 hit "Poetry Man." Aimee Mann sounded just like Aimee Mann on "My Father's Gun," while Jill Sobule was a bit more adventurous bringing a quivering voice to "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," accompanied by the Ethel string quartet.

Cover versions are so prevalent these days that to really impress, an artist has to help a listener see the song differently. Pop singer-songwriter Buddy didn't merely strip down "I'm Still Standing," his slow, introspective rendering, so different from the rockin' original, transformed it. In the opposite direction, mood-wise, was Shawn Colvin's upbeat, jingly take on "Harmony." David Broza performed "Your Song" with flamenco, pop, and scat flourishes, a journey well worth the hearing.

With so many performers coming and going on stage, the sound crew had their work cut out for them, and there were some unfortunate victims: the guitarists in the School of Rock All-Stars were unamplified for most of their performance and 1980s pop star Howard Jones had so much static at his keyboard that he stopped the song and moved to the piano.

"You've got to play the Steinway when you're in Carnegie Hall," Mr. Jones said before retaking "Tiny Dancer" from the top.

There were fun moments: Roy Ayers banging on his vibraphone, a reunited Peter & Gordon talking about their good friend Elton. And there were several respectable turns from Phish's Page McConnell, the Byrds' Roger McGuinn, Kristina Train, and Raul Malo. The show was a fund-raiser for the Music for Youth program of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York, which gives grants to music education projects for underprivileged youth in New York City. The concert was the fourth tribute event put together by Michael Dorf, the founder of the Knitting Factory, who now has his hands in a bunch of different projects including the first Music Downtown festival that took place last month on the plaza outside 7 World Trade Center.

Some audience members were disappointed that such favorites as "Candle In the Wind" and "Bennie and the Jets" weren't performed. Some had bought tickets because they'd heard the rave reviews of the organization's spring tribute to Bruce Springsteen, which concluded with Mr. Springsteen himself coming to the stage and performing. Mr. John did not attend this tribute; Mr. Taupin watched from a balcony seat but did not go on stage.

It wasn't a night to go down in music history, but it did do some good for some of Music for Youth's grant recipients: Bronx House Music School, Children's Aid Society Chorus, Interschool Orchestras of New York, and Opus 118.

"I love doing things for charity," Ms. Snow said. "It's an honorable thing to do."

agordon@nysun.com