Bryan Ferry delivers stellar set of solo and Roxy Music hits with an orchestral backing at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday

There’s often been an old-fashioned glamour in the music and performances of Bryan Ferry, as a solo artist and as front man of Roxy Music, so it’s fitting that after nearly five decades in the spotlight the English singer finally made his Hollywood Bowl debut on Saturday with a terrific show that captured much of the elegance and style of the iconic performer and this historical stage.

Debonair jacket, shirt casually unbuttoned at the throat, perfectly tousled hair? You don’t even need to ask. Video screens set to black and white? The singer as a film noir star.

And, in addition to Ferry’s regular rock ensemble, backing by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra on all but a handful of the 19 songs in the 80-minute set? Now you’ve got a seriously cinematic and timeless night of music in which to luxuriate.

Ferry’s night at the Bowl opened with “The Main Thing,” one of three songs from Roxy Music’s “Avalon,” which marked its 35th anniversary earlier this year. His band is much the same as it has been for a few years, with saxophonist Jorja Chalmers and guitarist Jacob Quistgaard often stepping forward for solo turns.

But as the show built through songs such as Ferry’s solo hit “Slave to Love” or the early Roxy Music track “Ladytron,” the depth of sound offered by the orchestra under the baton of conductor Thomas Wilkins added a warmth and depth to familiar songs — “Windswept” was particularly gorgeous, as was the title track of “Avalon” when it later arrived — filling spaces in the songs with a lushness that only added to the romantic feel of Ferry’s music.

And, we should note, the music of others, for Ferry has long been a consummate interpreter of song, too, and at the Bowl on Saturday one early highlight came with his cover of Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate,” a number on which guitarist Chris Spedding performed a few lovely solo bits and Ferry himself finished off with a Dylan-esque turn on harmonica.

Much of Ferry’s set was the same as it’s been on earlier non-orchestral dates on his tour this year. The pairing of the solo songs “Bête Noire” and “Zamba” showed up midway through as they usually do, as did the Roxy numbers “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” — perhaps my favorite song of many on this night — and “More Than This” and “Avalon” soon thereafter.

If anything, the show was a few songs shorter due to the time constraints of shows at the Hollywood Bowl, and maybe six or seven songs fewer than the standout performance he delivered at the Microsoft Theatre in downtown Los Angeles a year ago. But the trims were mostly judicious — a cover of Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane,” a track or two off his most recent album, “Avonmore” — and the trade-off of losing a few Roxy numbers (“Editions of You” dropped out of the encore Saturday) was more than made up for by the rarer nature of the performance on this night.

And Ferry, while not saying much during the show, clearly seemed delighted to be delivering his music in the manner in which it arrived Saturday. Three of his four sons were somewhere in the crowd, and when he did address the audience midway through the night it was simply to note how thrilled he was to be at the Bowl with the orchestra for this final date on his 2017 U.S. tour.

The main set closed at a peak with the Roxy Music songs “Love Is the Drug,” as slinky and sexy as ever, and the band’s early ’70s single “Virginia Plain,” one of a handful of songs in the show so purely and energetically rocking that the orchestra sat out.

After a brief break to acknowledge the crowd’s cheers and applause, the encore closed things out with “Do the Strand” and the always gorgeous “Jealous Guy,” Ferry’s signature version of the John Lennon song, a final reminder of the moving quality of a singer perfectly matched with a song, and a band and orchestra perfectly combined.

Jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant opened for Ferry, and though almost certainly unknown by many in the three-quarters-full Bowl had fully won them over by the end of her 40 minutes on stage. Performing with the backing of a terrific jazz trio, Salvant sang a mix of jazz tunes (“Devil May Care,” “Nothing Like You,” both Bob Dorough numbers), pop songs (Burt Bacharach’s “Wives and Lovers,” a gender-reassigned take on the Beatles’ “And I Love Her”) and interpretations of show tunes (“The Trolley Song” and “Something’s Coming”).

Only 27 years old and with just three albums released, Salvant’s charming personality and incredible voice surely indicate a lot more success in her future. After she closed her set with an awe-inspiring take on “Something’s Coming” from “West Side Story,” a good part of the audience rose to give her a standing ovation, and some could still be heard marveling at that final high note she hit during the intermission between her set and Ferry’s.

Bryan Ferry

When: Aug. 26

Where: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles