Kenny Garrett’s Visit to the ‘60s Is Loud, Intense and a Success

The high-flying, boundary-busting jazz of the ‘60s--avant-garde, New Thing--was inextricably linked to the events in that momentous decade. It was music that railed against the accepted order with an intensity that paralleled the civil rights actions, the incipient Vietnam protests and the general sense of a society in turmoil.

The reemergence of many of the elements of avant-garde jazz in the ‘90s--especially evident in alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s opening set at Catalina Bar & Grill on Tuesday night--has an entirely different quality.

Although many of the musical techniques are the same, the ambience around them has changed. Wildly virtuosic free-style playing, eardrum-shattering volume and an unrelenting level of intensity all seem primarily concerned with creating a kind of hypnotic, emotionally synergistic connection with the audience.

And Garrett’s performance managed to do precisely that with many members of a full-house crowd. Virtually the entire set was an onslaught of sound, much of it generated by drummer Marcus Baylor’s insistence upon filling every second with bashing drums and a constant, clattering wash of cymbals.

On a number of occasions, Garrett and Baylor joined in duo improvisations, but even here neither the intensity nor the sound level ever dropped below the overkill redline. And pianist Nick Smith and longtime Garrett associate Nat Reeves on bass--both highly talented artists--were very nearly lost amid the clamor.

Garrett’s engagement presumably was in support of his new album, “Simply Said.” But, aside from one brief rap-style number, none of the more laid-back performances from the CD turned up in the opening set.

There was no question about his sheer skill as an improviser. Several of his solos--one of them an astonishing cadenza--were formidable examples of rapid, articulate saxophone playing, scouring the horn from top to bottom.

It was obvious that Garrett can do almost anything he chooses to on his instrument. Which left the question of why he didn’t choose--as he often has done in the past--to do more, to place his masterful abilities at the service of a richer, more diverse, more dynamically varied musical perspective.

* The Kenny Garrett Quartet at Catalina Bar & Grill through Sunday. 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (213) 466-2210. $16 cover tonight, Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.; $14 cover tonight, Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. Two drink minimum.