What to See at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival – Friday

Especially after attending for nearly two decades, this author has a deep admiration and respect for the Newport Jazz Festival. Our site extensively covers the history of the legendary festival from before its formation to the present. Under normal circumstances, our site would feature coverage from Fort Adams of the 2022 Festival. However, due to personal obligations, there will be no live reviews of this Summer’s event. Instead, the author previews what he anticipates will be the weekend’s finest performances. Many publications highlight a small number of acts across the weekend as the “acts to watch.” What sets this post apart from those is that our author does not select a small number of sets across the entire weekend. Instead, we provide a proposed schedule to follow each day. Here is the recommended schedule for Friday, July 29th.Click here for Saturday and here for Sunday.

11:00 AM – 11:40 AM – Michela Marino Lerman (Harbor Stage)

To a distant observer, it may seem unusual for a tap dancer to perform at a music festival dedicated to jazz. But a closer look shows both a shared history of the two forms and a commonality of focus, including improvisation, polyrhythmic structures, and even a “swinging” quality. Marino Lerman is at the top of her craft. She has studied with Buster Brown and Gregory Hines and has performed with an incredible array of musicians, including Benny Golson, Roy Hargrove, Rashied Ali, and Reggie Workman. So, check out the only act at Newport this year by someone who is not a musician in its narrowest sense but nevertheless every bit as indebted to rhythm and phrasing as even the greatest instrumentalist.

12:00 PM – 12:45 PM – Theon Cross (Harbor Stage)

The tuba has a rich history in jazz with its earliest bands relying upon the instrument to hold down the bass end. By the 1920s, as the jazz band became more stationary, the tuba’s role was largely supplanted by the upright bass. Tubaists continued to create improvised music – most notably Bill Barber and Howard Johnson- but they became exceptions to the norm. Theon Cross, one of the several fine UK-based artists at Newport this summer, builds upon this tradition while taking it in a different direction. First, there is his work with Sons of Kemet in fusing jazz with rock and Afro-Caribbean music. Beyond that group, he also has two albums to his name, most recently Intra-I (New Soil, 2021), which uses electronics to explore a wide range of sounds from dub to Afrobeat.

12:55 PM – 1:30 PM – Nate Smith + Kinfolk (Fort Stage)

Nate Smith is one of the strongest drummers out there. His prior works include records with Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Jose James, and Britanny Howard. He even has a co-writer credit on a Michael Jackson song. Several transcription books have been written of Smith’s in hopes others can learn from his unique style. Smith’s most recent project is a musical three disc narrative of his life, Kinfolk. The two albums currently out have received significant critical acclaim, including the second volume, Kinfolk 2: Free the Birds (Edition, 2022), which was on several critics’ years ends lists. Smith is also one quarter of Saturday’s closer, The Fearless Flyers. This Friday set finds Smith’s Kinfolk band joined by special guests vibraphonist Joel Ross and Living Colour founder/guitarist Vernon Reid.

1:55 PM – 2:45 PM – Benevento/Russo Duo Acoustic (Fort Stage) 

For over twenty years, the duo of keyboardist Marco Benevento and drummer Joe Russo have aptly straddled the space between jam band and jazz while using hues of rock and punk. Both were also part of Christian McBride’s “Jam Jawn” at last year’s Festival. But, as Stuart Bogie noted, there is perhaps less of a great chasm between jam and jazz than most assume. This summer’s performance strips out the electric and electronic pyrotechnics common in Benevento and Russo’s prior works to further hone in on these stylistic similarities. While a Benevento/Russo duo by itself would be worth experiencing, the fact it is an entirely acoustic set takes the proceedings to a whole new level.

Fort Stage too crowded? Check out Nicholas Payton’s trio set up in the Quad. 

3:10 PM – 4:10 PM – BADBADNOTGOOD (Fort Stage)

2022 marks BADBADNOTGOOD’s second appearance at Newport. But, in many ways, this is not the same Canadian band that took the Fort Stage back in 2018. To state the obvious, their pianist, Matthew Tavares, is no longer part of the ensemble. As a result, the group sounds different than it did four years ago. While the jazz, hip hop, and electronic influences remain, last Fall’s Talk Memory (XL, 2021) also incorporates ambient (by the presence of Laraaji on the album) and orchestral and Brazilian (Arthur Verocai) music. The now trio will present an eclectic set. And don’t be too surprised if some guests- particularly harpist Brandee Younger- drop in.

Fort Stage too crowded? Check out Pino Palladino, Blake Mills, Sam Gendel, and Abe Rounds’ set up in the Quad. 

4:40 PM – 5:50 PM – McBride’s Newport Jawn (Fort Stage)

Bassist Christian McBride first appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1991 with The Jazz Futures, a group of “Young Lion” artists to watch. In the three decades since, he has frequently performed at Fort Adams. By 2016, he was named the Festival’s Artistic Director. As part of his responsibilities, McBride has taken it upon himself to present some of the most memorable groups each summer. First, in 2017, was the Philadelphia Experiment, a trio with Questlove and Uri Caine, which rarely performs live. 2018 brought a trio with avant-garde trailblazer Laurie Anderson and cellist Rubin Kohdeli. In 2019 it was a trio with Herbie Hancock and Vinnie Colaiuta. 

And, last year it was a superpowered “Jam Jawn” with John Scofield, Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, harpist Mikaela Davis, and more. 2022 finds him paired with, perhaps, an even more diverse band than 2021: Makaya McCraven, Chris Potter, Vijay Iyer, Brandee Younger, and Mike Stern. The group provides an interesting contrast of sounds, whether Younger’s elegant harp, Stern’s more fusion-oriented guitar, or Iyer’s avant-garde experimentalism. As McBride noted in our 2021 interview (coincidentally also called Newport Jawn): “In terms of future “special groups,” I never know what’s going to happen. But I do look forward to seeing how it unfolds.”

Fort Stage too crowded? Get funky with Lettuce up in the Quad.

6:00 PM – 6:35 PM – Terence Blanchard (Quad Stage)

Like McBride, Terence Blanchard first performed at Newport in the early 90s (1994). Since then, the UCLA professor has become a major force in contemporary music. In addition to an additional fourteen albums under his name since that outing, he’s scored over thirty-five films, most recently the remake of Father of the Bride (Warner Bros., 2022). Blanchard is even the first African American composer to pen an opera for the Metropolitan Opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones. At Newport this Summer, expect the trumpeter to explore the music of the legendary Wayne Shorter with his band, the e-Collective, and the strings of the inimitable Turtle Island Quartet. If the performance is anything like Absence (Blue Note, 2021), you can expect a daring display of artistry untethered to musical norms or perceived limitations. 

6:45 PM – 7:30 PM – Norah Jones (Fort Stage)

In the twenty years before her debut studio album, Come Away with Me (Blue Note, 2022), blew up the charts, Norah Jones has developed into one of the most acclaimed vocalists of her generation. She has won nine Grammys and ranked 60th on Billboard magazine’s artists of the 2000s decade chart. Part of Jones’ success comes not only from her soothing voice and impressive piano skills but her refusal to believe in stylistic limitations. While she draws inspiration from the jazz greats – some of whom she has worked with, including Harold Mabern, Wayne Shorter, and Herbie Hancock – Jones’ music borrows from a wide palette. She has visited hip hop with Outkast, electronic music on two albums with Danger Mouse, and has a recurring interest in folk music. Even Come Away With Me gave put “jazz” on equal footing with the music of Hank Williams, Sr.  While her latest release is a Christmas album, at Newport, one can likely expect to hear a combination of the hits that built her career and songs from her last non-holiday record, Pick Me Up Off the Floor, a review of which can be found here. Below is a clip from Jones’ last performance at Newport, back in 2016. She was also originally scheduled to appear at the, later canceled, 2020 festival.

The 2022 Newport Jazz Festival will take place from July 29 to July 31 at historic Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. More information on the event is available on its website.