What to See at the 2022 Newport Jazz Festival – Sunday

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 Sunday, July 31st.  Click here for Friday and here for Saturday.

11:20 AM – 12:05 PM – The Ron Carter Foursight Quartet (Fort Stage)

Ron Carter is an absolute legend. Given how widely he has recorded – he is, after all, the most recorded bassist of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records – it is easy to overlook just how many iconic albums bear his deep dark tone. We were honored to interview him on some of the lesser discussed highlights of his career earlier this year. In the second half of our conversation, we addressed his upcoming performance at Newport. He seemed incredibly excited to finally present his quartet at the Fort. When the artist who has made some of the most significant recordings in the history of jazz is psyched about their upcoming performance, you know it will be incredible.

12:30 PM – 1:20 PM – The Soul Rebels (Fort Stage)

We first recommended checking out The Soul Rebels at Newport back in February 2020 for the year canceled by COVID. Our comments at that time remain equally valid today. A “jazz” purist is unlikely to find refuge in the group’s music, but for those who take an expansive view of music, there is much to enjoy. By giving an equal footing to soul, hip hop, funk, rock, pop, and jazz, the Soul Rebels not only make you want to groove but make you question what you thought you knew about the history of music. As the Village Voice has noted, one can see the Soul Rebels as “the missing link between Public Enemy and Louis Armstrong.” The Soul Rebels prove that categories of music are not so much insular as lines on a shared family tree. 

1:30 PM – 2:20 PM – Mononeon (Quad Stage)

Don’t let Mononeon (Dwayne Thomas, Jr.)’s eccentric style dissuade you from noticing that he is one heck of a bassist. Anyone who has watched his always fascinating, though often hilarious, harmonizations of viral videos can attest to his talent. Mononeon’s interests are also wide-ranging, incorporating both funk and microtonality into many of his works. And, speaking of funk, his next album includes a track where he collaborates with Dr. Funkenstein himself, George Clinton. Oh, and did we mention he was the last bassist to work with Prince?

Too cramped at the Quad? Check out Jason Moran & The Bandwagon at the Fort

2:45 PM – 3:40 PM – Jazz is Dead Presents (Quad Stage)

Almost as long as jazz has existed, some have postulated its demise. As a result, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge’s “Jazz is Dead” series attracts critics regardless of its substance. If such detractors would look beyond labels, however, they would see an interesting project which finds the duo paired with some legendary artists; those far too often overlooked by self-proclaimed musical gatekeepers Their first series featured contributions from Roy Ayers, Gary Bartz, Doug Carn, Brain Jackson, and several Brazilian artists. Their forthcoming second one expands further to include Lonnie Liston Smith, Henry Franklin, the late Tony Allen, and more. At Newport, they bring Bartz, Carn, Franklin, and the band Katalyst. It promises to be a fascinating collection of artists, and it is all done with a nod to the ties between sampling and jazz. After all, Muhammad was also a co-founder of one of the best jazz-rap groups of all time, A Tribe Called Quest. 

Digging some jazz-rap royalty? Check out Digable Planets at the Fort Stage

3:50 PM – 4:35 PM – Sampa the Great (Harbor Stage)

Where Jazz is Dead subtly tips its hat to hip hop, Sampa the Great (alias of Sampa Tembo) is more explicit. Coincidentally, she too worked with Tony Allen prior to his passing. But the rapper’s work stands out from many hip-hop projects due to its expansive scope, encompassing traditional African rhythms, neo-soul, electronic music, jazz, and more. Her prior record, The Return (Ninja Tune, 2019), received significant and well-deserved acclaim for its eclectic focus. Expect Sampa to give an early glimpse into some music from her forthcoming album, As Above, So Below (Loma Vista, 2022). 

Prefer to see an incredible saxophonist who represents the hot UK jazz scene? Check out Nubya Garcia up in the Quad

5:05 PM – 6:05 PM – Vijay Iyer Trio with Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey (Harbor Stage)

At this point, the piano-bass-drum trio is hardly a novel conception. Ahmad Jamal, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, and Bud Powell are but a few who have used the format over the years. However, to steal the title of an album, the allure of such instrumentation is Far From Over (ECM, 2017). With voices as empowered as Iyer, Oh, and Sorey, why would you want it to end? Their first record as a trio, Uneasy (ECM, 2021), finds the two MacArthur Geniuses and the adventurous bassist sharing a natural rapport that allows them to not only craft beautiful compositional and improvisational structures but stretches and pulls them into new realms. Their music delicately and intelligently reconceptualizes harmony and rhythm while avoiding becoming too unapproachable to those less accustomed to creative music.

6:15 PM – 7:30 PM – Celebrating George Wein (Fort Stage)

Years from now, when people are reflecting on the 2022 festival, it is this set that they will most likely recall. To state the obvious, there would be no Newport Jazz Festival without George Wein. As shown in our history of the festival, not only did the late producer create the event for Louis and Elaine Lorillard, but he served as its savior several times. He rescued the festival from unruly mobs in 1960 and 1971, returned it home in 1981, and saved it from financial ruin in 2009. Even a casual observer could tell that, out of the many events of his creation, the Newport Jazz Festival always held a special spot in Wein’s heart. As discussed in our recent conversation with Artistic Director Christian McBride, although Wein died last September, he will always remain a part of the Newport Jazz Festival. An arsenal of artists – McBride, newly selected NEA Jazz Master Regina Carter, Trombone Shorty, Hiromi, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jon Faddis, Christian Sands, Randy Brecker, Anat Cohen, Lew Tabackin, Lewis Nash, and Jay Leonhart- are scheduled to salute Newport’s General at the Fort. But those are just the names currently announced. Expect lots of special guests along the way. And since the Newport Festivals team can apparently perform musical miracles, that could honestly mean almost anyone.

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.