Fareed Haque has at least two identities – mild-mannered professor of jazz and classical studies by day and jazz-rocker by night.

It was his daytime role on display in the Music Building’s Recital Hall Tuesday night.

Even with a football game going on, barely a seat was empty in the room with a capacity of more than 150.

Both young and old crammed in to hear Haque’s classical guitar recital.

Starting a few minutes after 8 p.m., the smallish man with glasses and a salt-and-pepper goatee began with a pleasant piece called “Variations on a Theme by Milan,” by Joaquin Nin-Culmell. His fingers moved quickly, plucking each note on the strings instead of merely strumming.

Eyes closed, Haque continued with “Variations on a Theme by Mozart” by Fernando Sors and four pieces by Issac Albeniz.

Except for one young man whose head kept bobbing in sleep, nearly everyone seemed to be intently focused on the music.

“The music has such a fluid sound, almost soothing,” freshman music major Lindsay Rosenzweig said. “You could just feel it running through the whole room.”

Haque returned after a brief intermission with four pieces by Francisco Tarrega. He played both slow and fast parts with equal skill and dexterity.

Josep Colome accompanied Haque on the violin during the final piece of the evening, Astor Piazolla’s “L’histoire du Tango.”

The audience seemed impressed, ending the night’s recital with a standing ovation.

“I don’t know if I could muster words to describe this,” junior psychology major Steve Schneider said. “Excellent would be an understatement.”

Mike Schulz, a junior trombone performance major, agreed with Schneider’s evaluation.

“It’s one of those things where you know it’ll be good, but you don’t know how good,” he said.

Besides wowing the NIU community with his performance, Haque keeps busy playing in jazz-jam super group Garaj Mahal, which has toured nationally and become a staple of the jam-band scene. In addition, Haque has performed with symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad with artists such as Sting, Joe Henderson, Kurt Elling and Dave Holland. He has even been featured in his own “Lonesome Pines Special” for PBS.

Neil Tesser, the Chicago Reader’s jazz critic, has written, “I don’t think you can play guitar much better than Fareed Haque.”