One effective way to find new artists and music is through their works with others. A great example of this is Josh Johnson. While generally lacking the name recognition of some of his peers, the saxophonist has been at the forefront of some of the finest recordings to emerge over recent history, often those exploring […]
Artists often produce some of their best work when given increased freedom over the creative process. In so doing, their other sonic influences frequently seep into their output, generating something which is not just truer to its craftsman but also expressive of a fuller range of ideas. With fewer confines placed on them by record […]
On August 29, 1920, Charles Parker Jr. was born in a home at 852 Freeman Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. The name of the street was also fortuitous as he would be the one to free music from its confines to a higher plane of expression. Despite living only a short thirty-four years, Parker established himself […]
In the field of philosophical logic, an axiom serves as a starting point from which other statements are derived. It is regarded as an essentially true foundation for further developments built off of it. Originating from the Greek word ἀξίωμα (axíōma), the term suggests worthiness and equal balance as it extends substance to those crafted […]
In the year 1500, navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral claimed Brazil as a colony for the Portuguese empire. Despite the region’s immense beauty, the measure was primarily a strategic one, beginning an era deemed “The Sugar Age,” in which millions of slaves were imported, particularly from Congo, to harvest the resource and send it throughout the […]
In the early 1990s, Allan Wilson and Rebecca Cann reached a scientific breakthrough in their testing of mitochondrial DNA. Their findings further supported the replacement hypothesis, a theory that proposes a single origin of man in a taxonomic sense. Its essential holding is that every human being descended from a small band of homo sapiens […]
After the destructive summer of 1971, George Wein wanted to keep the legacy of the Newport Jazz Festival alive but realized any continuation needed to take place elsewhere. He ultimately decided upon relocating the event 180 miles South West to New York City. By the early 1970s, the once-great home for jazz was in artistic […]
In some ways, the near riotous circumstances at Festival Field in July of 1969 was a precursor of an event which would occur the following month on farmland in Bethel, New York. Woodstock featured a few artists who were in Newport the month prior – Sly and the Family Stone, Ten Years After, and Blood, […]
At the time of the first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, there were two primary ways to enter the city on Aquidneck Island. From the North, travelers would cross the Mount Hope Bridge. But most traffic came from the West, where one would invariably need to take a ferry or other watercraft ashore. While there […]
Despite its rough shape, the new site was at a fantastic location. Near the JT Connell Highway, it had sufficient space for both a large stage – more than a third bigger than the prior one – and extensive audience seating. It also allowed for convenient parking, a frequent concern at Freebody Park due to […]
