A Coltrane classic saves the evening

John Coltrane seems to have a special appeal to the Marsalis family lately. First, saxophonist Branford Marsalis released his take on Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” And now, younger brother Wynton Marsalis is approaching the classic work from the perspective of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra’s full panoply of sounds and rhythms.

The concert by Marsalis and the jazz orchestra at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday night also included music by Benny Carter, Mary Lou Williams and Duke Ellington. But it was the climactic performance of Marsalis’ arrangement of “A Love Supreme” that provided the highlight of the evening.

“Highlight,” in fact, probably understates the importance of the four-movement piece’s presence on the program, which had often seemed, until Coltrane arrived, like an evening in which craft took precedence over passion. As America’s premiere large jazz ensemble, the orchestra is capable of authentically interpreting a full range of styles, as it did in the early part of the evening with Carter’s “The Wiggle Walk,” Williams’ “Froggy Bottom” and selections from Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige.”

Although the trumpet section occasionally played with a bit less precision than usual, the pieces were largely rendered with articulate clarity and a brisk sense of swing. Lead alto saxophonist Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson superbly shaped the sound and drive of the sax section, and bassist Carlos Henriquez and drummer Herlin Riley smoothly accomplished the difficult task of maintaining rhythmic cohesiveness and propulsion for a 16-piece ensemble.

The soloing was similarly well done, especially via efforts from saxophonists Ted Nash and Victor Goines, trombonist Ron Westray, trumpeters Ryan Kisor and Marcus Printup, and pianist Aaron Goldberg. Marsalis, mostly allotting solo space to the other players, stepped out on “Big Jim Blues,” another Williams work, strolling across the stage with a clarion call to action, playing blues licks with a rich understanding (and affection) for the genre’s core essentials.

Good as it was, only rarely did the music rise to the level of irresistibility, with the crowd mostly responding with enthusiastic but reserved applause.

“A Love Supreme” changed all that, but it took a while. Transforming a work originally conceived for a small ensemble, a work emphasizing inner spirituality and transformative music, into the controlled environment of a big jazz orchestra can be quixotic. Rather than confront the problem directly, Marsalis took a more circuitous path. Eschewing the notion of capturing every aspect of the original or of expanding a miniature into an overblown imitation, he simply reinvented “A Love Supreme” as he might have conceived it.

That meant bringing his affection for Ellington-style textures to the mix and opening up the piece for extended soloing -- provided especially well by Printup, Anderson and Goldberg. Most of all, it meant conceiving a final section that combined Marsalis’ skill with writing fast-paced, rapidly interacting, bop-based ensemble passages. Executed brilliantly by the orchestra, this fiendishly difficult section to “A Love Supreme” closed the evening with a stunning burst of musical passion.

With no encores, one left Royce with a listening appetite tempted but unfulfilled, with a wish that the entire performance by the ensemble had been as ravishingly satisfying as the program’s final 10 minutes.