MARCH 25

“Sonny Rollins is the most commanding musician alive,” wrote Village Voice critic Gary Giddins. He may be right: Watching the 64-year-old Rollins play is to be reminded that music can be cathartic as well as entertaining, and the unaffected jubilation that explodes from his burly tenor is analogous to a child’s enthusiasm for a new gift. Rollins integrates the calypso sounds of his youth, the popular music of his adolescence, and the bop and free movements of his adulthood with an endless supply of rhythmic dexterity and harmonic intelligence, but what emerges from his horn is pure euphoria. He performs at 8 p.m. at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW. $25. (202) 994-6800. (Chip Porter)