Assembling a concert that celebrates a career spanning seven decades must be a daunting task. What material should be included? Should the program be more celebration or performance? While the audience will expect the classics, what of the more obscure material of which the artist might be proud? The Kennedy Center tried to balance all of these factors on Saturday night in mounting an 80th birthday celebration for legendary jazz tenorman and composer, Benny Golson.

The result was a show that was neither here, nor there. Though there were warm moments and memorable performances, they struggled to break through a night that was overly staid and formal. In retrospect, it might have been better if the organizers threw out the script and let the music speak for itself.

After a short and informative biographical film, segments of which served as an interlude throughout the evening, Golson took the stage to perform his standard, “Along Came Betty”, accompanied by the ever-swinging Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Looking even younger than the evening’s host, Danny Glover, who unfortunately struggled with the teleprompter all evening, the Howard University alum played with his characteristic warm mellow tone and fluid sense of phrasing.