Podcast 542: Previewing the Newport Jazz Festival with Danny Melnick

The Newport Jazz Festival continues to reinvent itself from year to year, and attendees at the Festival at Fort Adams State Park Friday, July 29 to Sunday July31 will get a chance to see and hear music from a veritable plethora of musical genres. It's truly rare, in these days when "Jazz Festivals" are often "jazz" in name only, to be able to celebrate the latest groundbreaking acts and the most venerable classic groups in the same 72 hours. Last year saw promoters George Wein and Danny Melnick expanded the Festival to include a Friday slate of up and coming or avant-garde leaning musicians, ensuring the Festival will remain relevant. In addition, the intimate Storyville allowed solo piano and other instruments for those seeking refuge from larger stages across the compound. As you'll hear in my conversation with Danny Melnick, acts that allow even the hardest core jazzbo to find something new and exciting are all over the three-day schedule. Friday features New Orleans funk stars Galactic; today's "It" musician, Kamasi Washington; and acts often missing from festival bills, like Kneebody, Eric Revis, Sullivan Fortner, Steve Coleman and the Five Elements, and Kris Davis. One of my favorites, Tierney Sutton, brings her After Blue Joni Mitchell Project to Newport as well. Saturday has some of the biggest names of the Festival - Gregory Porter; Chick Corea's Trilogy with Christian McBride and Brian Blade; Anglique Kidjo; and a highly anticipated performance of Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction by the Bad Plus. Crowd pleasers like the John Scofield/Joe Lovano Quartet; Monty Alexander Harlem-Kingston Express; and the Butler, Bernstein & The Hot 9 project are set for the stages, as are the latest projects from veterans Stefon Harris and Dave Liebman. And don't miss the Festival debut of The Hot Sardines! Sunday wraps things up in style, with headliners like the Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland; last year's sensation Jose James, crossover star Robert Glasper and his Experiment; Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah's Stretch Music and a return set from Kamasi Washington. Several of our finest musicians are here with their latest groups: Potter, Holland, Loueke and Harland; Anat Cohen's Clarinet Re-Imagined; the Kenny Barron Trio and bassist Ben Williams & Sound Effect with Gilad Hekselman and Christian Sands. For those who follow this blog, the appearance by west coast brass musicians The Westerlies will be a must-hear. Danny Melnick takes you through the festival with hints on who to see and why he booked them in Podcast 542. Musical selections from acts you'll catch at the Festival include: "Qb4r" – Eric Revis "Final Thought" – Kamasi Washington "Hey Laura" – Gregory Porter (a live version from a BB2 recording earlier this month) "Ghetto Walk" – Robert Glasper featuring Bilal "Dreams" – Kenny Barron