Ferrer, pianist share the spotlight

The billing for Tuesday’s concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall said: “Buena Vista Social Club presents Orquesta Ibrahim Ferrer.” But at times the show clearly belonged to brilliant young pianist Roberto Fonseca rather than to Cuba’s sprightly old singer.

On several tunes during a beautifully balanced set, Fonseca’s solos stole the spotlight in a big band studded with star soloists, including bassist Cachaito Lopez, guitarist Manuel Galban and trumpeter Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal.

The twentysomething Cuban virtuoso cut a classic cabaret figure off to the side, broad shoulders hunched over the keyboard, coattails hanging over the bench, a jazzy hat shading his profile. Leaning toward center stage like a pointer, Fonseca often played off the avuncular lead vocalist. The 76-year-old Ferrer scooted around with penguin-like steps and even hopped across the stage, Chuck Berry-style, on one leg.

Ferrer’s show featured 11 of the 13 tracks on his excellent new album, “Buenos Hermanos,” which now sounds static compared to Tuesday’s dynamic performance. The album’s musical director, trombonist Demetrio Muniz, also led the stunning 18-piece concert orchestra, which displayed an accomplished restraint suited to Ferrer’s aging voice. Still, the band verged on overpowering him on up-tempo numbers. But the softer boleros highlighted Ferrer’s remarkably moving -- and still improving -- vocals, made simultaneously fragile and forceful, silky and raspy by age.

In an encore featuring Ferrer and Fonseca alone on stage, the hall resonated with the singer’s skin-tingling rendition of the brooding “Mil Congojas.” Afterward, the two artists embraced, a union of generations that keeps Afro-Cuban music ageless.