Miguel Zenón substantiated the scores of accolades he’s received in the past two decades with a stunning three-minute unaccompanied alto saxophone solo soon after his quartet’s concert at the Folly Theater began on Friday, January 20. The majestic statement by the 2008 recipient of the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called genius grant encompassed everything that ever has been and everthing that ever will be in acoustic jazz.
Aside from a lovely reading of “El Vida es Sueno” that served as an encore, the entirety of the 90-minute performance consisted of material from the Grammy-nominated 2022 album Música De Las Américas. Zenón’s third Kansas City appearance possessed a dangerously high degree of intensity. Even the most committed Zenón fans amid the audience of about 200 might have felt no less drained at the conclusion of the Folly Jazz Series presentation than bruised and battered punk rockers after an evening spent in a mosh pit.
Zenón, pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Luca Alemanno and drummer Henry Cole didn’t offer any conciliatory platitudes. Burning like a regenerated Charlie Parker steeped in Puerto Rican traditions rather than Kansas City blues, Zenón is among the planet’s most indispensable musicians. The quartet’s rhythmic machinations caused much of the second set to resemble a cerebral form of salsa. Their performance wasn’t merely great. It was unadulterated genius.