WMPG’s Jazz At The Movies present movie night on April 18th. This month’s movie is Sonny Rollins Beyond the Notes
A BBC Production, this beautifully crafted film by veteran music filmmaker Dick Fontaine is a continuation of a journey he started with his hero Sonny Rollins in the 1967 landmark documentary, “Who is Sonny Rollins?” Built around Rollins’ self-produced 80th birthday concert, Fontaine updates the Saxophone Colossus’ career and takes us on an exhilarating adventure of music, sound and image.
- Saturday, April 18th, 2026
- 7PM
- Portland Conservatory of Music, 28 Neal St., Portland
- Admission is FREE
more info from WMPG’s Dave Wade..
Called the Saxophone Colossus, Rollins is a giant who strode across the history of jazz, bridging bebop and the avant-garde over his fabulous 7 decade career. He is the only living musician who played with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and John Coltrane in the Golden Age of Jazz.
Cinematographer Dick Fontaine’s film, Sonny Rollins : Beyond The Notes was made for the BBC in 2010. Fontaine first started following and filming Sonny during the musician’s self imposed sabbatical 50 years earlier, when Sonny was playing on the Williamsburg Bridge late at night, back when he had chosen to leave the scene to work on his music and find himself.
The footage Fontaine shot back then became the 1968 TV documentary “Who Is Sonny Rollins? “. Four decades later, Dick Fountain caught up again with Rollins who had invited several other jazz masters he had played with, including drummer Roy Haynes, guitarist Jim Hall, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Ornette Coleman, and bass player Christian McBride, to help him celebrate his 80th birthday at the Beacon Theater. What resulted was a movie of that historic concert with the 80 year old saxophonist at full throttle, joined by other great musicians celebrating his jazz journey. Beyond The Notes is an inspiring movie about an artist who made momentous choices in his quest for perfection and his search for meaning in life, and who grew to true greatness.
Fontaine used Sonny’s 80th birthday to look into the man and his music. Early footage shows Rollins revisiting his life and early influences, with clips from Fats Waller, Louis Jordan, and Charlie Parker, and reflecting on his role in jazz’s long history. In this movie, Rollins does not just celebrate himself, but the others who had contributed to and advanced the music they loved and believed in, and its future for coming generations.