from The Seattle Times:
MONTEREY, Calif. — “Long live Monterey!” shouted 80-year-old tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins Sunday night, as he bid the dancing, roaring arena crowd adieu after a joyous 90-minute-plus set that closed the 54th edition of the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Head now topped with a mushroom cap of frizzy white hair, back bowed with age, but still prowling the stage for that perfect phrase, Rollins could have been an emblem of the Monterey Jazz Festival itself — which combined historic wisdom and youthful zest.
Earlier in the day, the festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra — an all-star band composed of high-school kids — played one of the most compelling, swinging sets of the three-day weekend, with particular kudos going to samurai-slicing trombonist Kyle Molitor, svelte vocalist Hope Flores and bronze-toned alto saxophonist Patrick Bartley.
Performances by young players nurtured in Seattle — drummer Kassa Overall and pianist Aaron Parks — also spoke to the music’s bright future.
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