NEWPORT, R.I. — Fridays are the future of the Newport Jazz Festival. That much was made clear after the festival, which went nonprofit in 2010, added the third day to its traditional weekend in 2014 in order to showcase “emerging” artists. This was a chance for impresario George Wein to bank on the legacy of his festival — now 61 years old — and even of jazz itself. The jumbo video monitor flanking the main stage at Fort Adams State Park declared: “Jazz — built on tradition, always moving forward.”
The traditional Friday night show at the glitzy International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino featured crossover stars Chris Botti and Jon Batiste — the latter soon to be musical director of the new “Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” (Batiste was also scheduled to appear at the festival Saturday; the event continues through today, with headliners Dr. John and Jamie Cullum.)
But the real news Friday was at Fort Adams, where 15 different acts played on three stages. The artists ran the gamut, from the funk-pop of Snarky Puppy to the resolute avant-garde of alto saxophonist Matana Roberts. And among the emerging acts were a few ringers, like bassist Christian McBride, now 43, who’s been a star for a couple of decades, and the long-esteemed New Orleans drummer Herlin Riley.
But there was no shortage of “new” at Friday’s event, whether you measured it in age or artistic slant. Student bands from Berklee and the University of Rhode Island opened the day. Roberts, in her Newport debut with her sextet, mixed meandering free-jazz, and both spoken and sung texts, built on the foundation of the spirituals of the black church. Her final extended invocation of the name of Sandra Bland was devastating. The Steve Lehman Octet sported the alto saxophonist/composer’s complex, and sometimes bracingly rude, weave of cross-rhythms and dissonance. Trumpeter Peter Evans fronted a quintet that mixed acoustic jazz and electronics in some carefully arranged, dynamically controlled freakouts. Pianist Gerald Clayton – with Kneebody saxophonist Ben Wendel and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire — showed his taste for altering and extending standard song forms, often in odd meters that kept the music constantly falling forward. The inventive composer John Hollenbeck and his Large Ensemble (with singers Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann) offered perplexing deconstructions of pop nuggets like Jimmy Webb’s “Up Up and Away” and the Bacharach-David hit “Close to You.”
Advertisement
If Wein, now 89, doesn’t save jazz, it’s not for lack of trying.
Newport Jazz Festival
With Jon Batiste, Matana Roberts, and more.
Friday.