Audience 'jazzed' to hear music icon

By the age of 70, most performers have had their 15 minutes of fame and faded into oblivion. But over 50 years after his first recording, jazz legend Sonny Rollins is still able to wow music lovers with his stylings on the tenor saxophone. This was evident on Saturday night, when he made a rare concert appearance at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre as part of the Penn Presents jazz series. You wouldn't think that the gray-bearded man who walked on stage donning black Converse sneakers and tinted glasses has had such a formidable career. Born in 1930 in New York, Rollins is a musical icon who learned his trade under the mentorship of masters like Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. From the bebop tunes of the 1950s to the creative sounds of the jazz revival in the 1980s, Rollins -- who is regarded as a dazzling soloist -- has been at the forefront of jazz for nearly half a century. A torrent of applause greeted Rollins as he took center stage and introduced "an old standard," called "This is My Lucky Day." He soon switched gears and performed the title song from his 1998 album Global Warming. Before he began the song, Rollins -- who took a hiatus from performing in 1966 to learn yoga in India -- explained to the sold-out auditorium that the album was "about our concerns for the saving of the planet. Everything's getting messed up here." The audience responded enthusiastically to his message and to the Cuban-flavored melody that had dozens of heads bopping and shoulders shaking. Backed up by a five-piece band, Rollins' concert included performances on the piano, trombone and an array of exotic percussion instruments. Katarina Stefanovic, a Penn alumna, compared the percussionist to "a chef" who "adds spices once in a while." In addition to more recent tunes, Rollins played early masterpieces such as "Tenor Madness," a jazz classic that he originally recorded with saxophonist John Coltrane in 1956. The theater was packed with a diverse group of concert-goers that included Penn community members, Philadelphia residents and others. Ben Johnson, who traveled 60 miles from Egg Harbor township in New Jersey to hear the concert, has been a fan of Rollins for 36 years. "He has not changed," Johnson said, commenting on the 70-year-old musician's remarkable stamina. The concert ended earlier than expected -- Rollins wrapped up at 10:20 instead of playing until 11:00 -- but the audience cheered him with a long standing ovation, hoping for an encore that he didn't actually play. "This is a guy who has played with Coltrane and Thelonius, and he's here on our stage," College junior Suzy Lefrancois said. "I was very impressed with the little speech about saving the planet," added Lefrancois, an Environmental Studies major. Last month, Penn Presents brought Herbie Hancock, another jazz legend, to campus. The series continues next weekend with a performance by pianist George Winston.