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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
In many ways, this summer’s edition of the Newport Jazz Festival is similar to years past. It will be held at Fort Adams, the event’s home since 1981. Newport will still serve as a barometer of the state of improvised music, whether by living legends, emerging talent, or those in between. But things are also […]
“Stop.” “Exit.” “Wet Floor.” From a purely functional perspective, readers encounter signs countless times throughout their day. They have become so commonplace that many are understandable by mere symbols without text. But at what point does a sign become more than just notice or direction? We are similarly swimming in an ocean of sounds yet […]
On September 28, 1991, the world lost a musical giant. An artist who, by his own estimation, changed the face of music five or six times. Miles Davis. During the mid-1940s, Miles was a sideman for one of history’s great compositional innovators, Charlie Parker. He would follow it up by playing a significant role in […]
Jimmy Heath. Tony Allen. Chick Corea. Wallace Roney. McCoy Tyner. The names and pictures of iconic artists who passed since the last Newport Jazz Festival regularly flashed on both stage’s large screens between sets. While the Festival had made such touching presentations in years past, they were particularly noticeable at the 2021 Festival as thoughts […]
2020 was a pivotal year in the history of civil rights. While a prominent case, George Floyd’s murder was no more the beginning of the struggle than his killer’s conviction was its end. Racial justice has served as a central impetus throughout much of the lineage of Black American Music, from Fats Waller’s “Black and […]
After a year canceled by COVID-19, audience members on July 31st, the first day of the 2021 Newport Jazz Festival could feel the lingering effects of the pandemic. There was a sixty percent cap on attendance. Half of the stages were closed for business. The Harbor Stage became an area for a tent with picnic […]
We continue our conversation with Christian McBride by discussing his thoughts on the connection between music and sports, his work as a DJ, the concept of genre, and some more on the Newport Jazz Festival and his role as its Artistic Director. Part one of our discussion can be found here. PG: Miles Davis used to […]
