At least 50 years ago, Jazz pianist George Wein presented the first outdoor music festival dedicated to strictly jazz. As time grew on and the jazz culture evolved, the annual festival transformed into today’s Newport Jazz Festival. Having sponsored over 117 popular Jazz festivals since the 1980’s, the JVC International Jazz Festival Program is proud to yearly introduce prestige musicians in Newport, Rhode Island.
Chris Botti and Ledisi will kick off the festival at 8:00 P.M. on Friday, August 8th, located at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino. The following days filled of jazz will be hosted on the three stages of historic Fort Adams State Park on August 9th and 10th. The Main Stage showing more bigger acts, the Pavillion suiting most trios and quartets, and the Waterside Stage hosting piano soloists and small ensembles you are assured great Jazz music. As there are several other JVC Jazz Festival locations such as Miami, New York, Chicago and few others, Newport, Rhode Island is the only to entertain in perfect weather, a stunning view and a friendly environment.
Looking for a place to spend your jazz filled weekend? Check out previous blog entries or visit the Distinctive Inns of New England website to learn more about specials and packages at The Cliffside Inn located in the heart of Newport, Rhode Island.
Below is a brief schedule of what is planned for this upcoming weekend.
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS HALL OF FAME – FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 – SHOWING AT 8PM
Chris Botti
Ledisis
FORT ADAMS STATE PARK – SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 – SHOWING AT 11:30 AM & 7:00 PM
Aretha Franklin
Chris Botti
Wayne Shorter Quartet
Dave Holland, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chris Potter, Eric Harland
Ledisi
Lettuce with Fred Wesley
Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
Charlie Haden, Ethan Iverson, Bill Frisell
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
Christian Scott
Warren Vache Quintet
Aaron Goldberg Trio
Melody Gardot
FORT ADAMS STATE PARK – SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 – SHOWING AT 11:30 AM & 7:00 PM
Sonny Rollins
Herbie Hancock
Anthony Hamilton
Guillermo Klein Y Los Gauchos
Soulive with Fred Wesley
Lionel Loueke Trio
Chris Potter’s Underground
George Wein and the Newport All-Stars featuring Anat Cohen-Howard
Alden
Marco Benevento Trio with Chris Potter
Mark Rapp Band
Empirical
Esperanza Spalding
*All artists are subject to change
Listen to audio from select Newport Jazz Festival artists
When people come from New York on the train for the Newport Jazz festival (as I was planning to do this weekend), they end up in Kingston or Providence.
I thought there would be a shuttle bus taking people from there to the festival site, but am told there is only the regular Rhode Island service. With hundreds or thousands of people coming in for the festival, is that really the only way of getting to Newport from Kingston? I have visions of myself coming all that way by train and then finding myself high & dry because I have just missed a rarely running bus (4.10, 5.30 or 8pm
for this evening from Kingston to Newport for example)..
By: Ken on August 8, 2008
at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the comment! I searched around for shuttles going from Providence to Kingston and also found myself high and dry. Your best bet, would just rent a car. Even though, I wouldn’t want to do that either. But worst case scenario that would probably the last resort. Hope you enjoyed the festival!
By: marissa225 on September 18, 2008
at 4:20 pm