Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Postcard from Newport


Here are more images from the Sunday, August 5 performances of the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival now presents about 20 bands per day over three days - on four stages at Fort Adams State Park. It draws up to a maximum crowd of about 10,000 per day.

Harold Lopez-Nussa
Russell Hall
Pianist Eric Lewis


Herlin RIley
Alexey Marti

Nicole Mitchell


Shirazette Tinnin of Mitchell's Dusty WIngs band

NJF artistic director Christian McBride
Renee Rosnes of Artemis


Artemis
Pull up a chair - or a boat
Melissa Aldana of Artemis
GoGo Penguin's Chris Illingworth

Jazzmeia Horn and pianist Victor Gould



Noriko Ueda of Artemis
Tivon Pennicott

Gregory Porter



Alex White of James Carter's organ trio

James Carter and Gerard Gibbs


Naile Sosa of Maqueque
Lucinda Williams, Stuart Mathis, Charles Lloyd
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic









Saturday, August 18, 2018

A lyrical legacy endures

Johnny Mercer's imprint is all over The Great American Songbook. He's best known for writing the lyrics to more than a thousand songs - for Broadway, for Tin Pan Alley, for film, and for pop singers.

Johnny Mercer's imprint also is all over Savannah, GA., the verdant and historic city where he was born. Any place live music is performed, Mercer's material seeps out at listeners.

Thursday, August 16, 2018

Sunny and sultry weather blend with hot music for Newport Jazz Festival's 2018 finale

The scheduling gods complicated my 38th annual visit to the Newport Jazz Festival and/or Newport Folk Festival. It meant I was only able to attend on Sunday, August 5, covering the jazz event for JazzTimes

They came by land and sea
But the schedule turned out to be fortuitous. Saturday's monsoon-like intense rain and resulting mudfest (yes, the music went on), gave way to a humid day with brilliant sunshine and a wide range of hot music.

Favorite acts, caught during and after photo-pit dashes between the three outdoor stages and the club-like indoor Storyville venue, included several all-woman bands, some contemporary advances on the bebop tradition, and two fine singers: festival veteran Gregory Porter and newcomer Jazzmeia Horn.

Of particular note: