Sonny Rollins Lives Up to Legend With Royce Hall Performance

Opportunities to hear masterful, veteran jazz artists at work are in short supply these days. With the music passing through a generational transition, its creative continuity distracted by the various fusion efforts of the ‘70s and ‘80s, few of the great figures of the ‘50s and ‘60s are still around, still functioning at high levels.

Fortunately, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins is one. And his intermittent appearances, almost always in concert settings these days, afford rare but vital connections to a jazz thread stretching back to the heart of the bebop era.

Rollins’ appearance at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Thursday night was a particularly compelling example of how vital those connections can be. His playing in recent years has generally been at a high level, with the sole proviso that his once rich and lustrous sound is now thinner and more pointed. And it’s understandable that, at 68, Rollins doesn’t always bring the same unrelenting force of sheer improvisational power to his performances that he did 40 years ago.

But Thursday’s performance had more than a few moments that ranked with his finest playing. Working with his regular sextet, looking as magisterial as ever, Rollins was a commanding figure. Often holding his saxophone in high supplication, roving the stage with the force of a musical shaman, he provided a visual presence to match the impact of his improvising.

His playing was at its best, as it almost always has been, in three formats--the blues, ballads and his trademark calypso-rhythm numbers. He was passionate with “In a Sentimental Mood,” always one of his showcase ballads, and crisp and driving with “Tenor Madness.” And, although he never quite got around to his classic “St. Thomas,” he played several pieces that verged close, rocking with infectious, dance-inflected rhythms that allowed him to jump easily from bouncing riffs to sudden interjections of unexpected dissonance.

Any Rollins accompanists inevitably take roles as supporting cast members. Even so, there was attractive soloing from pianist Stephen Scott, trombonist Clifton Anderson and percussionist Victor See-Yuen.

But the heart of the evening was Rollins, and the overflow crowd knew it, cheering enthusiastically, clearly recognizing that they were sharing an opportunity to hear one of the legends of jazz, still in full command of his considerable musical authority.