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That’s a whole lot of jazz history, past and present. But there’s also a preponderance of pop, some of which you could charitably call jazz-adjacent, and some not so much. Personally, I’m happy to see the Roots, Janelle Monáe, and De La Soul — artists who fall under the hip-hop, funk, and soul umbrella — on any festival bill. But how are the beat-heavy, rave-worthy soundscapes of Flying Lotus going to fit in?
Maybe the singer-songwriter Willow will lean more toward the jazz crosscurrents of her 2024 Tiny Desk performance than on her production-heavy albums. And it looks like the duo of Sofi Tukker will be performing the adept bossa nova of this year’s “butter,” a stripped-down remake of 2024’s EDM-leaning “BREAD.”
Newport, jazz or folk, has always been a balancing act (see: Bob Dylan, 1965). Following the jazz festival’s pre-rock heyday, Newport Jazz cofounder George Wein was always devising schemes to attract an audience large enough to make it sustainable and give lesser-known artists a bigger platform. After briefly selling off the festival to another presenter in the late 2000s, he returned in 2009 and shortly thereafter established the nonprofit Newport Festivals Foundation to manage the events.
From then on, he dug hard into the festival’s (and his own) legacy: an educational component, panel discussions during the week leading up to the weekend festival, regional student jazz bands playing the weekend’s opening slots.
Wein’s programming deployed not only veteran stars (Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea) and revered elders (Lee Konitz, Lou Donaldson) but also put an emphasis on “emerging” artists of various ages (Amir ElSaffar, Mary Halvorson, the Bad Plus). He also showed a healthy respect for the avant-garde; the esteemed avant-elder trio of Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill played the main stage in 2015. In interviews, he made it clear that he was concerned not only with his legacy, but sustaining jazz as an evolving art form.
Wein died, at 95, in 2021. Since then, the Newport Festivals Foundation (with Jay Sweet as executive director and the esteemed McBride as artistic director) has continued its educational component and the festival itself is going gangbusters. All three days of this year’s festival were sold out by late June. In the Wein era, sold-out dates were no sure thing, but Wein was always looking for the big names to anchor each day, whether it was Herbie Hancock or Ray Charles.
This year, it’s not so much that Monáe, or even Sofi Tukker, shouldn’t be on the bill. But there’s a whole swath of progressive jazz artists that are underrepresented, some of whom have played Newport and others not: heralded younger players like alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, star vibraphonist Joel Ross, and the slightly older trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, 43, who has in recent years become a major figure in the music.
Another player, vibraphonist and composer Patricia Brennan, has been bubbling up for a while and this year swept the major critics polls for her album “Breaking Stretch.” It would also be nice to have Halvorson back, as well as Grammy-winning pianist/composer Kris Davis.
This year, there’s a promising contingent from the bubbling up London scene — the celebrated saxophonist Nubya Garcia, singer Jacob Collier, the Yussef Dayes Experience, and Kokoroko. There’s a clubby neo-soul, down-tempo electronica drift in some of these and other acts (especially Dayes and the ambient-inclined American, Rich Ruth) that made me wonder if Newport Jazz (Ron Carter et al., notwithstanding ) was going to become an electronica-jam-band dance party.
We shall see. In the meantime, here’s a handful of other acts from this year’s bill that might be flying below your radar.
FRIDAY
DARIUS JONES TRIO Possibly the biggest debut of the festival. Alto saxophonist Jones, 47, brings a focused, impassioned vision to old-school avant-garde.
RACHAEL & VILRAY The duo project of Lake Street Dive singer Rachael Price and guitarist/songwriter/singer Vilray shows off Price’s glorious vocal chops in a swing-jazz context, supported by Vilray’s astute songwriting. Here they front a nine-piece band.
TYREEK McDOLE The 25-year-old winner of the 2023 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition has a sound and sensibility mature beyond his years and a repertoire that extends from American Songbook standards to Billy Strayhorn, Joe Williams, Leon Thomas, and beyond.
AARON PARKS LITTLE BIG The quartet fronted by the former Terence Blanchard and Kurt Rosenwinkel keyboardist has become something of a phenomenon, traversing jazz-rock and unclassifiable proggy grooves with uncommon flexibility and warmth.
SATURDAY
TYSHAWN SOREY TRIO Drummer, composer, and all-around genius-level conceptualist Sorey is joined by his trio-mates from his breathtaking 2024 release, “The Susceptible Now,” pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Harish Raghavan.
MARCUS GILMORE PRESENTS: A CENTENNIAL TRIBUTE TO ROY HAYNES In the “only at Newport” category, the 38-year-old heir apparent to his grandfather’s greatness reviews the Haynes repertoire with a band that includes saxophonist Kenny Garrett, pianist Danilo Pérez, and bassist John Patitucci.
SUNDAY
JORJA SMITH Part of this year’s Newport British Invasion, this 28-year-old English singer-songwriter matches compelling lyrics and emotionally weighted vocals with jazz-wise rhythms and harmonies, and an acoustic take on club beats and funk.
EMMET COHEN TRIO Pianist Cohen, 35, became a bona fide jazz influencer when his COVID-born “Live from Emmet’s Place” livestream took off. His virtuoso pianism takes in all manner of jazz history, with special attention to sturdy songwriting.
NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL
Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I. Aug. 1-3. Sold out. Waitlist information: newportjazz.org
