For the past six decades, the
Newport Jazz Festival has been the premier showcase for jazz's most supremely
loved vocalists, from Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, to Louis Armstrong and
Billie Holiday. And, this year's edition of the festival continues in that
hallowed tradition.
Whether he's channeling the message music of Gil Scott-Heron
or Joe Williams' upsouth urbanity, the two-time, Grammy Award-winning Gregory
Porter's emergence on the scene in the last decade confirms that he is one of
the coolest and most compelling vocalists of his generation. In a Marvin Gaye
minute, this California-born crooner can deliver a lyric that spans from the
profound question "What's Goin' On" to the provocative proclamation "Let's
Get it On." And, when Porter takes to the Fort Adams stage on Sunday,
August 5, he'll give the audience more of that sweet sound heard on his 2017
Nat King Cole tribute CD, sonically shaped by Porter's silken, syncopated soul
and vivid vocals.
Minneapolis-born José James has covered a lot of artistic
ground since he hit the scene, first as a finalist in the 2004 Thelonious Monk
International Jazz Vocalist Competition, and with his imaginative and eclectic
recordings that ring with the hip jazz-folk influences of Gil Scott-Heron,
Billie Holliday and Terry Callier as well as hip-hop swagger and neo-soul
nuances. When James takes the Fort Adams stage on Saturday, August 4, (he also
joins Pat Metheny on Friday, August 3, at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
at the Newport Casino) he will celebrate the music of soul icon Bill Withers,
the plaintive and poetic singer-songwriter whose hits, including "Lean on
Me," Ain't No Sunshine" and "Use Me," defined a generation.
Withers turned 80 on July 4, and James' tribute will be both a born-day shout
out, and an invigorated, ingenious and moving meditation to a major musical
figure by an artist who is also a rising star in his own right.
St. Louis' Alicia Olatuja is another shining star with an
endless horizon of talent. She sang at President Barack Obama's second
Inauguration, and put her brilliant and buoyant stamp on the music of Chaka
Khan and Michael Jackson, to name a select few. Trained in jazz, soul, gospel
and classical genres, she earned a Masters Degree in Classical Voice/Opera from
The Manhattan School of Music, and worked with Khan, BeBe Winans and organist
Dr. Lonnie Smith. The Newport Jazz Festival's Artistic Director Christian
McBride is a fan of her work, as evidenced by his appearance as a sideman on
her 2014 debut solo CD, Timeless. So when Olatuja steps up to the mic at Fort
Adams State Park on Friday, August 3, she will perform with a vocal aesthetic
that combines a plethora of vocal genres into one profound and pleasing
mezzo-soprano.
The Grammy nominated Andra Day performed at The White House,
and is a new planet orbiting a sun emitting rays of R&B, soul, and jazz.
Born in Spokane, Washington, and raised in San Diego, California, Day grew up
jazz channeling Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday. After
working a series of odd-jobs, she was discovered by Stevie Wonder's wife and
when she appeared in a popular Christmas video with Wonder, a star was born.
Building her brand with a series of YouTube video covers of artists including
Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill, her first CD, Cheers to the Fall, released in
2015, contained her anthemic hit single, "Rise Up." She had an eager
audience waiting for her at Newport Jazz last year, but had to cancel when she
fell ill the day before. But, Day again fixes her gaze upon the audience at
Fort Adams State Park on Saturday, August 4, and her earthly airs will
communicate with passion, intelligence and integrity.
Integrity, along with ingenuity, is something the great
singer Betty Carter brought to every bandstand and recording she performed on.
She distilled her great knowledge to generations of young musicians in her
bands and in her Jazz Ahead educational program. Brooklyn's Charenée Wade is a
21st Century diva who was a graduate of Carter's program. She also took part in
Dianne Reeves' Artistic Workshop at Carnegie Hall, participated in JAS Academy
Summer Sessions, directed by Christian McBride and is a Manhattan School of
Music alumna. A finalist in two Thelonious Monk International Vocal competitions
- once as a first runner-up in 2010 - Wade worked with a number of jazz stars
including bassist Rufus Reid, saxophonist Tia Fuller and pianist Eric Reed. Her
2015 CD, Offerings: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson (which also
features McBride), offers a powerful and poignant preview of the kind of social
message music she'll bring to the Fort Adams Stage on Saturday, August 4.
With first-place wins at the 2015 Thelonious Monk and 2013
Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competitions, Texas-born, Jazzmeia Horn isa
graduate of The New School and also a Betty Carter disciple with shades of
Sarah Vaughan and Abbey Lincoln thrown into her complex cauldron of influences.
She comes to the Fort Adams stage on Sunday, August 5, fresh from a sensational
world tour in support of her Grammy-nominated debut CD, A Social Call. Horn's
velvet voice combines Carter's bop-like fluency and phrasing, Vaughan's
operatic airs and Lincoln's conscientious cries. Her vivacious vocal chops made
her an in-demand sidewoman with everybody from Wynton and Ellis Marsalis and
pianist Kirk Lightsey, to saxophonists Billy Harper and Frank Wess. With a name
like Jazzmeia Horn, she indeed, was born to sing and swing!
The 2018 Newport Jazz Festival presented by Natixis
Investment Managers takes place August 3 - 5 at Fort Adams State Park and the
International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino. Artists include
Charles Lloyd's 80th Birthday Celebration with three different bands; Pat
Metheny with Antonio Sanchez, Linda May Han Oh, & Gwilym Simcock; George
Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic; Jon Batiste; R+R=NOW; Michel Camilo; Grace
Kelly; Laurie Anderson & Christian McBride Improvisations with special
guest Rubin Kodheli; Roy Hargrove and many more.
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